Autumn colours in Japan + coughtails by the pool in Fiji

[Matt_01]

Despite having lived in Japan earlier this century, I visited Kanazawa for the first time earlier this year. The cherry blossoms were out which added to the appeal of the city. ..... I had a couple of decent coffees at a place called Sway Coffee which is amongst the touristy shops on the northern approach to Kenroku-en.

We must have been in Kanazawa around the same time (this year) as the cherry blossoms were still in bloom and just starting to fall. As for Sway Coffee Mrs&MissM found that place and some photo's they prepared earlier

@Drakecula Kanazawa also has a thing for Gold leaf ice-cream.

 

[drron]

We were also in Kanazawa in cherry blossom time this year. We really lucked out being in Kenrokuen at peak viewing time. Loved Kanazawa and have had several visits there.

 

[Matt_01]

.....The higashi chaya area is just near the ninja museum and less crowders than the main one.....

I think you mean the Nishi Chayagai?

@Drakecula If you have limited time in Kanazawa and plan to visit the castle, gardens and one of the old towns near by either Higashi Chaya or Nishi Chaya they are similar and within about the same walking distance, Higashi Chaya is north, Nishi Chaya is south.

 

[Seat0B]

I also struggle with left and right, as well as east and west. You're not alone

So glad to know I’m not alone. Mr Seat 0A always says “no, the other right” when inviting me to look at something as we pass!

 

[Drakecula]

One sleep til Sydney! We're packed and ready to roll.

First stop tomorrow will be the Canberra bus station for our bus up to Sydney Central.

We'll be staying at the Sebel Sydney Martin Place. I'm an Accor Plus member (signed up during a sale earlier this year) which has been handy for this trip and I'm using my extra night for this stay. It looks like a nice hotel and not a bad location to explore Sydney from.

 

[DejaBrew]

We'll be staying at the Sebel Sydney Martin Place

Will be interested to hear your take on that one. Have considered staying previously, but not gotten around to trying it out. Enjoy!

 

[Drakecula]

After a bus trip up to Sydney and a short train ride, we were checked in. The Sebel Martin Place is right near Martin Place station so easy to get there by train. It's in a spot that you might blink and miss, not a big grand foyer type hotel.

It's got an art deco vibe which is nice. The room is good, with Nespresso pods for coffee. If that's a good thing? I don't drink coffee so I don't know.

We dropped our bags and went straight out to find lunch. Ended up at a Mexican joint called Esteban which had a giant list of tequila. Food was great, and if we were there for dinner, I'd have had a coughtail or two.

After lunch we wandered down to the Rocks to see the markets and wander under the bridge and round to Circular Quay. The Royal Princess Hamilton was docked.

We then wandered back to the hotel to enjoy our welcome drink (we got prosecco) and relax before dinner.

Dinner tonight is at Mjolner. It's a great place, Viking themed where you can get served drinks in drinking horns! We've been before and loved it. I like when they roll out a selection of unique knives and you get to choose your weapon for dinner

 

[Drakecula]

Today was an adventure through the botanic gardens. Before we started, we grabbed lunch and water from Woolies which was next to the Lego store. Of course we had to go inside!



The walk through the gardens was great. We found a shady spot for lunch, then wandered down to the Opera House and along the water all the way round to Mrs Macquarie's Seat.

We're off to see Six the musical this evening.

 

[Drakecula]

Six was great fun! Really enjoyed the show. MrD liked it as well. He'd heard some of the songs since I'd played the soundtrack at home a few times.

We then went to Swissotel Sydney (a block away) to get dinner. I figured I'd find out how this Accor Plus thing worked for food. Restaurant was closed (oops, Sunday) but the bar was open. So we headed up and it was a great space.

Food was good, drinks were great and we got to watch a storm roll in. I'm not entirely sure how much the discount was, as there was also a 10% surcharge on Sundays, but a discount is still a discount! Then back to our hotel, being careful to avoid the rain where we could.

This morning MrD made the comment that the hotel was in a good location in that there's no road noise plus the blinds are really good at blocking the light. We've caught up on our sleep here for sure! The road noise I think is helped by the fact that the hotel is on a one way street (I think) and it's not really a through road to anywhere. I wonder if it'll feel different tonight being a weekday?

In any case we have to get up really early to head to the airport tomorrow so sleeping in isn't an option!

 

[Drakecula]

We've made it to the Qantas J lounge!

Another good point about the Sebel is that it's right near St James station which has the airport line. Easy peasy run this morning.

The next update will likely be from Tokyo!

 

[I love to travel]

We've made it to the Qantas J lounge!

Another good point about the Sebel is that it's right near St James station which has the airport line. Easy peasy run this morning.

The next update will likely be from Tokyo!

Enjoy

 

[Flyfrequently]

We've made it to the Qantas J lounge!

Another good point about the Sebel is that it's right near St James station which has the airport line. Easy peasy run this morning.

The next update will likely be from Tokyo!

On board with you @Drakecula , have a great time!

 

[VPS]

Have a great trip. Friends in Japan now and so many food and cat photos. And it's colder than Adelaide so I'm jealous

 

[Seat0B]

We've made it to the Qantas J lounge!

Another good point about the Sebel is that it's right near St James station which has the airport line. Easy peasy run this morning.

The next update will likely be from Tokyo!

I’m also following along to hear about your trip. Have a great time.

 

[Drakecula]

A quite comfortable flight over, had plenty of leg room (yes we flew Y), decent food and a good selection of movies.

In uploading photos I realised I didn't take a photo of the second meal. Guess I was hungry at that point in time, oops.



We had no problem getting a Suica card then hopping on public transport to our hotel. Not a bad little room. Dormy Inn check in process was pretty easy too.



Off to explore a little before bed!

And yes, it's pretty chilly. Top of 10 tomorrow apparently.

 

[Drakecula]

We spent the day wandering through Ikebukuro, looking at shops, trying yummy foods, finding interesting vending machines, and watching people play crane and arcade games. Essentially, just revelling in all things Tokyo.

 

[Drakecula]

Oh, another thing Dormy Inn does which we're enjoying is the complimentary things. Such as a Yakult drink in the morning, some sports drinks/juice in the baths, ice cream/blocks after you've had a bath, ramen in the evening.
There's even washing machines you can use for free (dryer is 500yen I think).

If I read Japanese I'd enjoy the huge selection of manga, as it was I flicked through one while enjoying an ice block after my bath. First time bather, but I managed okay. I was alone initially which helped, but a few other women arrived while I was cooking myself. That hot spring was hot!! Relaxing though. My feet feel less sore after the soak.

 

[Drakecula]

Another huge day, my feet are certainly telling me so.

We started in Shibuya, ticking off the Nintendo store. I was sorely tempted by a Luigi bag, but I don't need more bags!

We crossed at the scramble, saw Hachiko as we exited the station (we got a proper photo on our last trip). On our return a group was doing some kind of scavenger hunt as they asked us to take a photo as they crossed the scramble. Mission accomplished!

We then hopped a train over to see the trees at gingko avenue, and found an attempt at a German Christmas market. Price of admission got us a nice souvenir mug. A particular highlight was the band who did a rendition of Edelweiss on cowbells.

We then walked to Harajuku (we'd been before) and then got a train to Shinjuku to see if a samurai museum was open. Website said no, recent reviews said yes. MrD wanted to try a particular restaurant in Shinjuku anyway so we tried our luck. Alas, definitely closed. But we did see the new 'robot restaurant' which is now 'samurai restaurant'. I bet it's just as crazy as robot restaurant was.

Dinner obtained, okonomiyaki, which I don't think my tummy liked. Feeling a bit off right now. But all in all, a great day!

 

[rbjhan]

I LOVE Dormy Inns!

 

[Drakecula]

We left Ikebukuro early this morning to make it to Tokyo station with enough time to find the JR East ticket booth to collect our shinkansen tickets. Mission accomplished, we grabbed a quick bite for breakfast then found our platform.

I spotted Mt Fuji from the train as we left the city! It was a comfortable ride to Nagano where it was quite a tad cooler than Tokyo. Brrr! We were able to drop our bags at our hotel and wander up to the Zenkoji temple.

Along the way we found an amazing Evangelion backpack that MrD fell in love with. (We bought it on our way back to the hotel) We also found delicious soba noodles for lunch.

The temple was pretty cool, we didn't go inside the main hall, but just wandered the grounds. Nagano must be known for apples because we saw a lot of apple things. We bought some sweets and a magnet featuring a green bear wearing a red apple hat. We saw that mascot everywhere.

Nagano is obviously a lot quieter than Tokyo, but it's still got all you need.