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Welcome to my blog. I document my adventures in travel, style, and food. Hope you have a nice stay!
Welcome to my blog. I document my adventures in travel, style, and food. Hope you have a nice stay!
October / Back to Project 366 (2016) / December
We've been seeing more fall colors as our trip proceeds. This was at Eikando Temple in Kyoto.
This garden is within the walls of Honmaru Palace of the Nijo Castle in Kyoto. The palace is where the shogun resided.
The Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima Island is best known for its tori which is in the sea. During low tide you can walk out to it. As low tide nears, people get as close as they can.
Even though this photo is very similar to yesterday's, I still like how the tone is completely different with the light and the angle. Low tide coincided with the onset of nighttime, which seemed like a great combination.
This building was the only one left standing near the hypocenter of the atomic bomb dropped over Hiroshima. It used to be the Hiroshima Prefecture Industrial Promotion Hall, and is now the city intends to indefinitely preserve it.
We arrived at Kanazawa Station and I was immediately struck by the outside of the station. Lots of great lines and curves.
Several of the trees in Kenrukoen Garden in Kanazawa have ropes which help support several of the branches, In addition, branches are supported from below. This both keeps the branches in the proper formation and gives them support when snow collects.
Kanazawa's 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art has several parts of it which require no admission fee, such as the view to this courtyard with the view of Jan Fabre's sculpture on the ceiling. The whole museum itself is shaped like a big disc, oval grounds surrounding it.
We stayed in a gassho-zuriki farmhouse in Ainokura (it's the one at the front left with the thatched roof). We were served a Japanese-style dinner and breakfast, and the hostess drew water for us in the bath. Very quiet and relaxing, Quite cold, too (mid-November in the mountains).
On the trip from Ainokura to Takayama we had a few hours of a layover between buses in Ogimachi, where the fall colors were really showing. Because of the haze, the mountains looked like a watercolor painting.
The Old Town section of Takayama has lots of historic buildings, but it was this non-historic section which drew my eye. The canal runs down the middle of the road (and unlike what you'd expect in Japan, the one-way streets are arranged so you drive on the right side of the river), there's a wide variety of trees and fall colors, and several bridges, including this bright red one.
Takayama Jinya was the government house from the Edo Period. It was in use until 1969 and is now a museum. When you first enter, you see this wallpaper with a small arrangement in front (those are pieces of mochi stuck onto the twigs).
We lucked out during our Shinkansen ride that it was a clear view to Mt. Fuji. I had a hard time actually getting this photo, having to lean over someone sitting on his roller bag in the space between train cars. Add a moving, bumping train, reflections, and not clean windows, I was surprised this shot turned out as well as it did.
The National Art Center in Tokyo is very interesting architecturally, and gives you completely different looks depending on the angle. I didn't realize until I was processing this photo that there's a bird on the top of the building.
Went out for a walk today to keep awake, and sat by the fire at Starbucks. When I first sat down, someone was seated outside, and I started to try to frame her iced drink in the background, but she left before I even got focus. Ah well.
I got this omamori (good luck charm) from Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima.
We returned to the United States with stores in full holiday sales mode. Actually, that was true in Japan, too.
Saw this penny on the way to work, and it made me think of how coins don't seem to be picked up as often as they used to be. Right, I didn't pick it up either.
As we get into the holidays, baking is starting to ramp up. Pies, stuffing, cookies…
We had a dripping faucet, so I took it apart and found this worn seat. Fortunately, I had a replacement in the basement.
Restoration Hardware just opened a new, huge store in University Village. The centerpiece is a central stairway filled with chandeliers which goes between all four floors.
Rain season is in full swing. It's also getting darker earlier, but I happened to be heading home a little early today, so I was able to catch the last of the day's sunlight.
These seats came from the auditorium around the corner in the UW Tower. I'm not sure if they're being replaced or work is being done in the auditorium, but what I saw was nowhere near all of the seats.
We have people over for Thanksgiving on Friday, which means Thursday is the day to do prep cooking, including baking rolls. These get melted butter brushed on the top after coming out of the oven.
Tall grasses are a popular landscaping feature around here. Mostly I see pampas grass, but I see this bronze one pretty often, too.
This is the time of year when our dogwoods (both yellow and red twig) drop leaves and the stems turn very colorful. I like how the leaves of the yellow twig dogwood are still green near the veins, giving them interesting color and texture.
Our living room has a couple features you don't see in modern houses, a picture rail and a coved ceiling.
Our larger Japanese maples drop leaves which are reddish, so it's nice to have other colors in the neighborhood.
Christmas decorations are starting to show up, such as these lights and stars at University Village.
I was looking around the entryway of the Neptune Theater and this spider web caught my eye. I liked how the raking light makes the strands stand out so much.
October / Back to Project 366 (2016) / December