A few days have passed without posting anything, so this is what happened. On Saturday, we visited Fushimi Inari Shrine, which was breathtakingly beautiful. We spent hours walking through the bright orange Torii gates. Again, it was so very hot and we suffered quite a bit, but it was so worth it. Definitely the highlight in Kyoto, sightseeing wise. And that’s saying something in this city. We sampled some Tofu ice cream (flavors: sesame and sweet potato – awesome!) and tried other Japanese sweets that I can’t remember the name of, sadly. The Torii Gates of Fushimi Inari Taisha In…
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Today’s our second morning in Kyoto, and before we take off to visit Fushimiinari Shrine (can’t wait!!), let’s look back on what we already did/saw/visited in this spectacularly beautiful city. On our first day, after checking out the location of our (very nice and nicely located) hostel, we went for a walk to Kiyomizudera Temple. Since there are literally thousands of temples and shrines in Kyoto, it quickly dawned on us that we would never be able to visit all of them, but we wanted to go to Kiyomizudera because of it’s location up on a hill, overlooking the city.…
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Before we are leaving for Kyoto, let’ have a quick look back at what happened yesterday. In the morning we visited Osaka Museum of History. The permanent exhibition was quite fascinating, which was an unexpected and pleasant surprise. The reason for our visit was, of course, the temporary exhibition, though: “Evangelion and Japanese swords”. It was as weird and cool as it sounds. We went shopping in the city afterwards. Window shopping, anyway, although I bought something at the Hello Kitty store that can pretty much be described as the embodiment of what we got to love about Japan so…
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It’s 8:15 am on our second day at Osaka and almost time to go to the Museum of History to, wait for it, go and see an exhibition titled “Evangelion and Japanese Swords”. Like in EVA, our very favourite anime (probably the very best thing of fiction ever, if you ask us) ever made – and katana. In one and the same exhibition. It’s so awesome, we almost suffered a mental breakdown when we discovered the posters in the subway station. I don’t think I have to explain why we love Japan, now, do I, because if you know us…
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Jumeirah Mosque During morning hours of my last day in Dubai I visited Jumeirah Mosque where a British lady gave us a tour and explained a lot about the Mosque and Islam in general. It was a very interesting, although slightly forcefully cheery experience. Burj Khalifa After running around way too long in the burning sun, I returned to Dubai Mall to wait for my turn to go up the Burj Khalifa. Sadly, the visibility wasn’t all that great that day, but it’s still a cool thing being able to brag how I’ve been up the tallest building in the world. View from the…
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My second day in this (still dazzling) place was quite memorable as well. During morning hours, I spent some time trying to locate the Gold Souk (found myself on a fish market instead, where I wasn’t just the only Westerner within a mile’s radius, but also the only female). Still an interesting experience, though, as this was the first and, as of now, only place where Dubai was a) smelly and b) not so tidy that I’d want to eat off the ground. The first thing that came to my mind: So this is a real, breathing city after all…
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When planning the journey, I decided to take a 3 day stopover in Dubai on my way to Japan. I thought it would be quite interesting to explore this city. And boy, was I not wrong. View from the Metro station The first word that comes to mind when I think about how to express my impressions: surreal. Supremely surreal. First of all, nothing in this city looks older than 10 years. Well, apart from my face, maybe, but try dealing with 50°C degrees while wearing somewhat modest clothing. It’s a whole new challenge. Things get even trickier since it’s…
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The very first stamp in my brand-new passport …
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The last few weeks went by incredibly fast, and it’s almost time to leave already. The passports are ready, the Japan Rail Passes bought, the backpacks packed, couchsurfing hosts contacted, now all that’s left is remembering how to breathe when the plane takes off (which, in our case, could prove to be a challenge). See you in Osaka.Die letzten Wochen sind wie im Fluge vergangen und der Tag der Abreise steht vor der Tür. Die Reisepässe sind abgeholt, der Japan Rail Pass gekauft, die Rucksäche gepackt und die Couchsurfing-Hosts angeschrieben. Jetzt dürfen wir beim Abflug nur das Atmen nicht vergessen……
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Within this blog, we want to document the preparations, thoughts, experiences, and impressions of our journey to Japan in August 2013, for ourselves, friends and family, and fellow and following travelers to share, interact with, and, maybe, inspire. In diesem Blog berichten wir über die Vorbereitungen, Erlebnisse und Eindrücke unserer Japanreise im August 2013 – als Erinnerung für uns selbst, für unsere Freunde und Familie sowie als mögliche Inspiration für andere Japanreisende.