....go Habs go.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Friday, April 18, 2008
Last sushi meal (stand up bar)
I finally felt healthy again on my last day and and half in Japan. So on the morning of my last day, Ali took us to a great stand up sushi bar in Shibuya so that I could at least enjoy sushi more than once. The great thing about this place were the nigiri sushi which was slightly seared by a small butane torch. Yum. I headed back to Montreal on April 14, while Ann stayed on tour for another few days before heading to Seoul and then to HK.
Returning from TIT
After Osaka I headed back to Tokyo to spend the last part of the trip there. We met up with Yijie again and she invited us to a lunch party with her friends out at Tokyo Institute of Technology. Afterwards we headed to Omotesando and Shibuya and picked up some gifts for LL at a great toy shop called Kiddieland. Here they had stuff from all the iconic Japanese characters.
Church of the Light Chapel shot
Before the orchstra headed to Nagoya Ann had a free couple of hours in the morning so we headed to a suburb of Osaka (Ibaraki) so that I could see the Church of the Light by Tadao Ando. Everytime Ann and I travel we try and see at least one iconic building and this would be the one for our trip to Japan. Ann tracked down some better directions to the church than the ones I had found online and it was well worth the effort to get out there. The church was smaller than it looks in the books and magazines and just as amazing as I thought it would be.
View from Hotel in Oksaka
After Ann and the orchestra started work, I spend the next couple of days wandering around Tokyo on my own. I headed out to Oeno and checked out a couple of buildings by Le Corbusier (National Museum of Western Art) and an addition by Tadao Ando (International Children's Literature Museum). The days in Tokyo were quite rainy and cold so it was nice to keep dry inside these museums. On Friday the orchestra headed to Osaka by plane, so I took the train down to Osaka to take advantage of the hotel room. This was the view from the hotel in Osaka. I kept hearing about Japanese spaghetti and how it is much better than Italian so I finally got to try some in Osaka at a place called Il Alberta. True enough it is much better than Italian spaghetti!
Yijie Tomo and Haru
In Tokyo we met up with my old friend from Beijing, Yijie and her two kids (Tomohiro and Haruto). Last time I was in Japan it was Yi-jie who accompanied me for the whole week and took me around Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto. Here we are in Asakusa.
view from hotel tokyo
Ann and I made our way to Tokyo on April 8th where the rest of the orchestra was arriving. We stayed at this 40 storey hotel (Grand Prince Akasaka) designed by Kenzo Tange. This was the view from our room. The rooms that we were given were much larger than I was expecting and it was kind of nice to sleep in a western style bed again. By now Ann was on the mend while I still had a few days of illness to go.
ryokan 1
On our last night in Kyoto we splurged and stayed at a traditional Ryokan. By then I was feeling quite sick and couldn't eat very much which was a shame because the stay included a traditional Kyoto kaiseki meal. The ryokan was everything hoped it would be. The room was on the second floor with a view to the courtyard garden below.
ann and TK
Ann got to see her old friend TK who she hadn't seen in almost 10 years. TK lives in Kyoto and took us around town. This was taken in the Gion area known for the character of it's old streets and for the free treats that you can sample along the way.
kyoto blossom 3
Luckily our first full day in Japan was beautiful so we were able to enjoy the cherry blossoms in full bloom. The next few days in Kyoto would be rainy and windy so the amount of blossoms really dropped off before we headed to Tokyo.
kyoto 1st meal
Ann and I flew into Osaka and took the train directly to Kyoto, where Ann had us booked into a room for 4 with Alison and Jennifer. A and J arrived about 20 minutes after us at the Inn. Trying to stay awake for another hour or so we headed out just down the street for our first meal. Ann had started to feel sick the day before we left Montreal, and I managed to pick up whatever she had a couple of days later. Anyways this would be the only sushi I would eat until the end of the trip.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
kyoto blossom
I am now back from Japan! Check back in a day or two for more photos or check out flickr.
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