The Adventures of Lorie and Brian Groth

Between Kyoto and Tokyo is farmland, a few towns, the coastline, and Mount Fuji. It’s tough to get a good photo because there is always something whipping past the window, and it all goes by really quick.

We did a lot of walking around, through different markets, around town, and saw a few of the typical tourist spots. I have to admit that we got lost inside the Kyoto train station a couple of times too! It’s huge and you have to find the right entrance to find the right train platform. We gave up one night and took a taxi, but needed to help the driver navigate, which is a challenge when his English was worse than our Japanese.

While on a train to the bamboo forest, an 88 year old man sitting next to Lorie started up a conversation. His English was good and had even flown KLM, like we do all the time. He told us that the train we were on was 100 years old, and while it looked like it, it was in really good condition. That’s the photo of the green velvet train seats. He also suggested that we visit a 1400 year old temple that we passed on the train, which was the Kinkaku-ji. So, we did and it was a very relaxing place with some nice trees; we never would have known about it if he hadn’t suggested it.

To avoid crowds, we chose one evening to visit the red gates of Fushimi Inari-Taisha, which were pretty, but we preferred just seeing locals with their dogs, or eating cucumbers on a stick, or buying stuff from a store filled with nothing but vending machines. And of course, seeing the small cars, and even a small garbage truck, is always fun too.

We left Tokyo today for a long weekend in Kyoto, and to get there, we are taking the Shinkansen. We are moving too fast to get any good photos from the train, but I’m writing and posting this from the train. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinkansen?wprov=sfti1 for more info about the train.

The train station is nice and clean, with lockers for luggage so you can go to the restaurants below the station. However, they are generally all used, but just like the rest of Tokyo, the Tokyo station has vending machines for a variety of drinks. Usually different teas and coffees.

Yes, there is a Disneyland in Tokyo, but there is also Disney Sea: https://www.tokyodisneyresort.jp/en/tds/?darkschemeovr=1

How and why did we end up there?

Our flight from Europe landed at about 6am and we were at our hotel a bit after 7am, but our room wouldn’t be ready until 3pm. Thankfully, they could hold our luggage.

Too bad we forgot to change (or never really had a chance) out of our flight socks, change any clothes, brush our teeth or take a shower. With some breath mints in my backpack, we considered walking around Tokyo, but that’s the plan for next week when our friend joins us for city exploring.

Since someone recently suggested Disney Sea was different and unique, we set that as our goal for the day, plus figuring out the Tokyo subway… jet lagged, still wearing flight socks as it started getting warmer outside.

Thankfully it never got above 70F today, and it never really rained either.

The park is quite unique, and while it wasn’t too crowded, there were still lines for all rides, many restaurants, and all but one popcorn vendor. The popcorn is different flavours, with the first one we saw being Garlic & Shrimp. Ick. Just ick. We ate ice cream most of the day, because nobody stood in line for that for some reason. We did find a popcorn vendor with no line, and as luck would have it, it was Mocha & White Chocolate. We loved it.

We lasted from about 10am until about 3pm, which is pretty good for us at any amusement park. I think the people watching was as good as the design of the different themed areas of the park.

This little forest area that we often walk through is covered in blue bells right now, otherwise known as Hyacinthoides non-scripta

Keukenhof is one of the biggest flower gardens in the world and is the number one place in the Netherlands for tulip displays.

While working in London this week, here’s what I got to see along my walk.

A few photos of our new (100 year old) house between Haarlem and the beach on the North Sea. It’s the end unit of a 4-plex. No, the horses are not ours, but we see them quite often when walking around the neighbourhood. Plus the cows.

The day started at -4c and warmed up to 0c by 3pm, but the cold dry air was good for walking around and popping into cafes and bars.

Late running trains from Amsterdam meant we didn’t get to see much on our first day, but so far it seems to be a very picturesque European town with interesting buildings and restaurants.

We plan to see what we can discover on Saturday by taking some long cold walks around the town.