Wandering Daydreams

Venice has been number one on my bucket list of places to visit for a long time, and I finally made my dream trip in 2018. I don't like to rush my vacation in trying to visit multiple cities at one time and decided to spend my full 3 days in Italy just within Venice. There's definitely other places that I would like to visit but that can remain as a motivation to make another trip next time!

Once again, I seem to have ignored my blog here for months, almost a year now even. Not sure if anyone is reading my blog anyway, but let me just continue to capture my memories and travels here ^.^ Did not travel much last year due to a change of jobs, and settling in to the new routines took a while but finally managed to enjoy some travelling again this year. Anyway, today I want to document a short trip I took on the scenic railway in Norway. If you google or search for attractions in Bergen or Oslo, Norway, one of the items that will come up from reviews will be on the train line between the two cities, as summed by the following: "When travelling between Oslo and Bergen, go by train: the Bergen Railway is one of the most scenic train lines in the world." ( http://www.visitnorway.com) With that kind of statement as well as wonderful reviews by other tourists, I decided to take the train from Bergen to Oslo while I was in Norway, and see if it did live ...

This is the last full day that we have here in Japan and we decided to make a day trip to visit Kobe. Kobe is a smaller city which is around 30 minutes away from Osaka by train. Nara is also another option for a one day trip as it is also similarly located close to Osaka. However, as I wanted to try the Kobe beef, I decided on Kobe over Nara. In the morning, we took the Hankyu line from the Umeda station all the way to the Sannomiya station in Kobe. Inclusive of the subway ride to the Umeda station from our hotel area, the tickets cost us 400 yen each per way. We took a walk to our first destination, which are the Kobe Ijinkan or western style houses. For those who prefer to take a bus, you could also get a City Loop - Day Pass for 650 yen, which would allow you to hop on and off the City Loop bus for the whole day. We decided not to get it as we were not planning to use the bus that much today. 1. Super cute Starbucks shop     2. Steep stairway leading up to a shri...

Now that we're back in Osaka, one of the schedules on our itinerary is a visit to the famous Osaka Castle. We bought some snacks and macarons ^^ from the departmental stores the day before, which we had for breakfast before our sightseeing. We took the subway to the Tanimachi-4 Chome station (230 yen per person one way), and from there walked for about 10 to 15 minutes to get to the castle grounds. There are actually several subway stations surrounding the Osaka Castle area, which are also within walking distance, so you can choose which line is more convenient based on the station you are departing from. There were lots of signage along the way pointing us along towards the Osaka Castle, so there wasn't much of a problem in getting there from the subway station. Saw a beautiful patch of pink flowers along the way as well ^^ Osaka Castle and the surrounding grounds Compared to the other temples and shrines we visited previously, there is no charge to enter and se...

Early the next morning, we got up and got ready in the adjoining toilet. By the time we were ready, the futons had already been cleared by the staff and the table set up again in the middle of the room. Before our breakfast was served, we were each served with one plum together with a cup of tea. Not too sure what's the reason for serving a preserved plum in the morning, but it definitely worked to wake us up a little and give us an appetite =p Unlike dinner, breakfast is served all at once instead of one dish at a time. Once again, we were amazed with the quantity of food that was served. Together with the dishes below, we each had a bowl of rice, with the staff continuing to urge us to add more rice as we were eating. I wonder how the Japanese manage to keep from getting fat if this is the amount of food that they consume on a daily basis. However, it's definitely healthy as there are a variety of ingredients served within the platter, including preserved vegetables, egg...

Continuing from where we left off in the previous post, we headed back to Kawaramachi after our day trip to Arashiyama. On the way back to the Best Western Hotel to collect our luggage, we stopped by at Takashimaya to browse the "depachika", which refers to the basement of the department stores. In Japan, the basement floors of department stores is the place where foodstuff are sold, which is similar to our supermarkets here but with a much larger variety of items sold. Really love just browsing here as there is just such a large variety of food on display, including salads, sashimi, sushi, bento sets, yakitori, desserts and lots more. Just thinking of it is making me drool. As we'll be having a traditional kaiseki dinner at the ryokan, we only got one octopus salad to try. After collecting our luggage, we made our way to Hiiragiya Bekkan ( http://www.hiiragiya.co.jp/bekkan/en/ ), which is also within walking distance. Do note that Hiiragiya Bekkan is not the sam...

Today, we're heading over to Arashiyama for the beautiful scenery ^.^ Before heading out, we had already packed our belongings and checked out from the hotel as we will be staying at a traditional ryokan for our last night here in Kyoto. We just left our luggage with the hotel staff to collect later in the afternoon once we finish our sightseeing. From the station nearby our hotel, we took a train to the Hankyu Arashiyama station (220 yen each). Love the old style feel of the station and the station here was quite silent and peaceful, not many people around. Anyway, from here, it's a quite a short walk, about 5 to 10 minutes, to get to the Togetsukyo bridge. We were unsure of the way at first but luckily, we spotted some roadsigns showing us the way in English. Hankyu Arashiyama station For those who are unsure, you can basically walk straight on along the road from the entrance of the station as seen in the above right picture. Along the way, there are several ro...