This weekend was a three-day weekend... which meant time for another trip!!!
Dave, Shauna, Aki, and I headed out for Kansai on a night bus Friday night. At a pit stop somewhere between here and there, Shauna and I experienced our first snow fall!!!!
We overreacted a tad, but I am glad I got to share the experience with another Hawaii person! We got to Namba early Saturday morning, then set out for Himeji Castle. It was my first time there, and I was totally excited!!! The fall leaves were turning colors, and the day was beautiful. That castle is huge! And it makes Osaka castle very commercial (although still pretty to look at). I think I still liked Matsumoto castle better, but Himeji is a must see for sure! I think it's listed as the most beautiful (or was it treasured?) castle in all of Japan.
After that, I parted with the others to meet up with my friend, Akiko, for sweets in Kobe (Sannomiya) (they're famous for their sweets). We went to a cool little cafe and had some cake and coffee after hitting up Harbor Land for a kitty strap (Kobe Chinatown) for my sister.
Then I headed back to Osaka to meet up with DSA and my friend (and old student) Yone. He picked us up in his skyline and drove us to AmeMura (America Mura) and we had Takoyaki on the street before heading over to Dotonbori to be tourists and take lots of pictures. In one of the arcades (alleys) we hit up an Okonomiyaki place. It was really good! While in Osaka the two things you have to do are eat takoyaki and Okonomiyaki... and we did both in the span of a few hours! haha.
After the meal, Yone drove us all the way to our hostel (which was more like an apartment complex) and we said our goodbyes.
The next day we headed over to Kyoto... BIIIIIG mistake! There were sooooo many people there! We were only able to go to Ryoanji, which is a zen garden temple area. We did also cruse around gion and kawaramachi for a bit, but it was so crowded that the bus from Ryoanji back to gion took three hours and we lost a lot of time. That night, we went to Pure night club near Dotonbori in Osaka and hung out with another ALT from Gunma, Li. Then we went back to our hotel and crashed.
Monday wasnt too exciting as we were going to be heading back to Gunma that afternoon. We hit Dotonbori up again and walked around, bought omiyage, and then hit up Namba Walk for lunch. Before we knew it, it was time to get on the bus back home!
We got into Takasaki at 2am, and Shauna and I decided we would stay up and talk instead of trying to sleep for three hours. So we did that, and then made our way to McDs in the station before catching our trains home and heading straight to work (which is something I dont think I will do again).
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