Yokohama

After Kyoto we headed back to Tokyo for the weekend. From there we just took little trips out to areas around Tokyo. The first place we went was Yokohama, a city really close to Tokyo. So close, in fact, that it is really just one continuous city.

We did a few things things there, and I'll talk about all of them, but first up was a boat ride around the bay. The first picture shows a view of the downtown area. Note the ferris wheel. It's huge!

This picture shows us on the ferris wheel. See how much I like heights!

This picture shows Jen being happy and me pretending to be happy on the ferris wheel.

Below is a view of the area surrounding the wheel. They had a whole park set up around it with rides and shops and stuff. It was really interesting.

We're still here

Once again, it's been quite a while since my last post. I've been insanely busy at work lately and haven't really had much to post about, or much time to post it. But things should cool off a bit at then end of the week so hopefully I'll be back in action then.

Parting Kyoto

We decided to do one final things before leaving Kyoto for Tokyo. After our tour of the Kyoto Imperial Palace we decided to pay a visit to the Golden Pavilion.

This place is just like it sounds. It's a traditional Japanese building, but it's covered in gold. It's quite impressive. The park around it is also pretty neat.
 

Kyoto Imperial Palace

Okay, I'm a big fat liar. I told you a few posts ago that what I was showing you was the Kyoto Imperial Palace. I lied. That wasn't the Kyoto Imperial Palace. The next eight pictures actually are. I swear.

       

Kyoto Imperial Palace II (see above)

Kyoto Part II

Another thing we did in Kyoto was one of the neatest things we did on the whole trip. There was a shrine tucked into the mountains called Kiyomizu Temple. The building itself is very cool and the setting is amazing. It's built right out from a hill and has some great views.

It was actually nominated for one of the "new wonders of the world", but it didn't receive enough votes to make the final cut. Regardless, it is a really cool place to visit and we would both recommend it.

Kyoto

Next up on our trip was Kyoto. We arrived the same evening we visited Himeji, so we just headed straight to the hotel for the night.

I guess we did go out and grab some food first, though. We had Japanese style curry at a fast food curry place. It was pretty simple, basically just rice and some brown curry sauce. Simple, but it was actually pretty good.

Anyway, one of the things we did in Kyoto was go to the Kyoto Imperial Palace for a guided tour. Kyoto was the capital of Japan before it was moved to Tokyo. The palace was where the royal family lived and received guests. The pictures below show some of the palace.

Biking

You may or may not have noticed that I've started a list of my rides on the right column. I need to find a better way to do this, but for now I thought it was a good way to show what I've been doing. Plus, it's a good motivational tool for me.

Bourne Ultimatum

Jen and I went to see the third "Bourne" movie last night. Just like the other ones, it was awesome. It's been a long time since I have seen a good action movie. I highly recommend it.

More Japan (Himeji Part II)

In addition to the castle in Himeji, there was also a pretty nice garden. Here's some pictures from it.