Scene from Pike Place Market

Posted on January 30th, 2009 under Other. Tags: food, seattle. Comments Off on Fruit and Peppers

One of the more famous places in Japan for viewing the cherry blossoms is Maruyama Park (円山公園) in Kyoto. We didn’t plan to go there, but ended up in the thick of things anyway. We had a splendid little lunch of yakiniku with C.C. Lemon to wash it down next to these guys who were enjoying their Asahi Beer (advertised in yesterday’s blog entry).

Cherry blossom viewing parties (花見) are a common sight in late March and early April in most of Japan. This picture captures the essence of many of those parties: food, friends, beer, kimono, lanterns, and Mickey Mouse. Actual cherry blossoms are an optional bonus. We were lucky enough to have them on this occasion. We did a 花見 in Tokyo, which was just as crowded, without any blossoms yet on the trees.

Posted on January 15th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: cherry blossoms, food, japan pictures, kyoto, people, sakura. Comments Off on 円山公園の花見

As I mentioned a few days back, I have too many decent photos of Mexico to cram into just one week so I will revisit Mexico again at a later date. There is even talk of another trip down there for Spring Break of 2009 so maybe I’ll toss in another Mexico week on this blog then (even if we don’t go again).

We stayed at the Presidente InterContinental Puerto Vallarta. The hotel isn’t in the main part of town which is a bit inconvenient but well worth the trouble of a taxi or bus when you do want to head into the city center. The picture I took, above, was my first impression as I walked out onto our balcony. It doesn’t get much better than a view like that.

I remember two of the meals we had in Puerto Vallarta as being among the best I’ve ever had.

That does it for Mexican week. We’ll return to things Japanese tomorrow. I think I’ll do some other week-long travel blogs in the future though as I quite enjoyed it (even if those of you only interested in Japan didn’t ;)). Be on the lookout for future weeks dedicated to Canada, Hawaii, and Italy.

Posted on November 30th, 2008 under Other. Tags: beach, food, mexico. Comments Off on Last day of Mexico week, Porta Vallarta

After more than 160 posts I figured I better mention sushi for the first time. The above photograph is from a sushi restaurant in Kyoto. I’m actually not a huge fan of seafood which means that I only like a few kinds of sushi. However, this restaurant served much more than sushi so I had shabu shabu or sukiyaki. I don’t remember which. Whichever it was, I do remember it was very good.

御馳走様でした！

Posted on October 20th, 2008 under Japan. Tags: food, japan pictures, kyoto. Comments Off on Kyoto Sushi

Maruyama Park in Kyoto is a wonderful place to be when the cherry blossoms are in bloom. You’ll find yourself mixed in with many groups of Japanese enjoying hanami (blossom viewing) parties. If you don’t bring your own food have no fear. You can purchase fish on a stick (or a bunch of other delights) from various street vendors. We passed on the fish on a stick and went for some yakitori instead. You can’t beat yakitori washed down with C.C. Lemon.

Posted on September 25th, 2008 under Japan. Tags: food, japan pictures, kyoto. Comments: 1