Danibinjapan

Day 1 Paris The departure: 9 pm Friday nightThe arrival : 2pm Saturday An hour delay, a little bit of nervous tension, a smooth ride, chating with my neighbour a los angelian on his way to meet his lady friend, waiting on the Tarmac for an eternity, buses, trains and metro ride pretty much encompasses my journey to the beautiful city of Paris. The food: nothing much to say, except that the tomatoe I ate was very good, the kind of fresh out of the garden kind of good, and it came from a small grocer down the street from my apartment.It is my first day and my stomach really has no idea were it is and what time it is. So we are keeping it simple. But...The wine: is fantastic!! A 2010 Cotes du Roussillon ... read more

Day 5 in Japan What a day, an early morning tuna auction to subway hopping through out Tokyo. With a 3 am wake up to wait in line at the visitor entrance by 4. Then be escorted to the the tuna auction bay at 5:30, I am finding that I am a little tired as I write this blog at 4 in the afternoon. Sorry for my mistakes. The auction was fascinating! The fish were laid out on the warehouse floor based on weight and source. They had there gills ripped off, were gutted and lay frozen on the ground as the buyers inspected the fish with metal picks. Not really sure of what they were looking for, but they moved meticulously from fish to fish poking and prodding. The fish were kept on ice as ... read more

Day 3. Japan Another day of marathon walking, more temples and the Kyoto modern art museum. Today I spent most of the day in wandering through the small streets on the eastern side of Kyoto. Several Buddhist temples nestled into the mountainside. Mountains which surround the city. These tramples had a different character, different from day 2temples. They were simple and quiet, but the gardens were integrated into forest. In the zen rock gardens of yesterday, everything was represented by sand, rock and vegetation in a very prescribed way, through the placement of the rocks, the striations in the sand, the type of vegetation, quite beautiful in its simplicity. Everything in the universe reduced to the fundamentals. But todays gardens merged with the surrounding environ, where the line between control and chaos is blurred. Everything item, ... read more

Day one Japan If you have to fly to Japan, go direct. It is less exhausting then stop overs. I just wish I had been better at choosing my seat. Row 25 is right up against a wall, so you can,t recline. Which would have been okay since I had 2 empty seats next to me and was fully intent on lying down for the whole flight. But then someone asked the steward to move into the furthest empty seat. So thanks to my yoga classes I was able to contort myself into various unique positions and catch a nap. When I arrived at the airport I was happy to find signs everywhere in English . So I was able to stop and have the toilet clean my butt and then proceed through customs. Really aim ... read more