http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Xaviera/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Xaviera en-us Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:45:08 +0000 Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:45:08 +0000 After a few delays from the airport thanks to the weather in San Francisco we finally made into the city we decided to spend our year anniversary. Being cheap we took the BART from the hotel to the civic center and thought it best to walk to our hotel instead of call a taxi. The taxi ride 9 watching Jeff carry our heavy travel bag on his shoulder as we blindlessly navigated through a city we' http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/San-Francisco/Pacifica/blog-460274.html Irsquom a bit tired but canrsquot seem to sleep. Itrsquos around 2pm over here and already this morning I found three things to do I was so happy and thought that that would fill my day but after seeing the last of the 3 I came back to the hotel to try and take a nap. Meaning I still have another 8 hours or so before I call it a day. What to do Irsquom on a super tight budget so I r http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Ile-de-France/Paris/blog-350004.html So it doesnrsquot even matter what happened first thing in the morning cept for the fact that I was feed for free because once I made it to the Louvre and saw the glass pyramid outside everything stopped. It was amazing. It was breath taking. Hardly ever am I the person who stops and lsquoawwwsrsquo at buildings and the such but this .. wow I canrsquot even describe it. In fact I d http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Ile-de-France/Paris/blog-349723.html I get up pretty early and am happy to see Paula up so I give her a hug and wish her well HyoJin was sweet and sent me and Susan off this morning. I took the same train with Susan and was super grateful on many levels for that. Not only is Susan an great person to be around but she also knows more French then me so when it was time to buy the train the ticket she handled mine 100 Merci She http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Ile-de-France/Paris/blog-349430.html So despite what was written in the lsquoproblemsrsquo section I had a great time. I think it really took me being away or leaving before Irsquod realize it and I knew that ahead of time. Itrsquos a different life at Plum Village for two weeks I have no idea whatrsquos gone on in the world I watched no tv unless it was a DVD of Thay giving a Dharma talk. There was no internet and e http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/blog-349429.html I dunno if ldquoProblemsrdquo is the right heading or not. Irsquove learned a bit about myself and some things I learned I knew I think they just came more into the light here. Thay and others talk about people being social lsquoanimalsrsquo they need to be together. Living in a community like this has really shown me hellip. And I sigh as I think of the right words hellip anoth http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/blog-349428.html Today is Lay Day at Plum Village 11 252008 it was my first and only encounter with Lay Day. What happens on these days is the monastics have their thing to do so they leave and all meet together at one Hamlet while the Lay people nonmonks and nuns sohellip me get to meet up at another Hamlet and do all the things the nuns do. We walked to upper hamlet after breakfast I went with Paul http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/blog-349427.html On these days we go to the other Hamlet and once they came here for a gathering of all the people to listen to the Dharma and hold a discussion afterwards. My first experience of Mindfulness Day was not a good one. I was happy and looking forward to it the whole day before and then thinking of Lazy Day the next day was also exciting. But it wasnrsquot at all what I thought it would be. This http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/blog-349426.html Lazy days are every Monday at Plum Village. All we have scheduled is Breakfast Lunch and Dinner unless you are on the cooking team you get free range of your day. In fact I am typing all of this during my last lazy day at Plum Village. The first lazy day was very awesome. I had such a great time. I started out with some Tai Chi before breakfast then went on a walk with Susan to nearby town of http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/blog-349425.html Our meals were another source of meditation. I donrsquot think I was very mindful during these times. Maybe this is something that needed even more work then my sitting. Breakfast was my favorite I woke up hungry many times and I also normally ate the same things but it was all food I enjoyed. I typically got a scoop or scoop and half of oatmeal and I mean not that instant stuff with th http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/blog-349424.html Walking meditation I have done before and enjoyed it. Granted it was in a decent sized room but we walked in a small circle and I never really knew what I was doing. Turns out I was doing just what I needed to breath focus and walk. It was easy to engage and be present out here. France is a new country to me and being able to walk down the country roads and see the farms and houses and not http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/blog-349423.html So I was just going to write about my day to day life here in plum village but that didnrsquot seem to go the way I wanted it to. I think just writing about my details leaves out much of what I wanted to accomplish and what I got out of being here. We had lots of down time or time where we had ldquomindful cleaningrdquo because the sisters needed to be somewhere else getting ready for the w http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/blog-349422.html I wake up really early in Bordeaux Around 230am no longer tired so I play around on the internet. Around 7am I figure its late enough to go for a walk and see the city. I walk outside to find that itrsquos still dark but I wonder anyways. Irsquo m super hungry but found only the caf I ate at yesterday open. I walked right by it hoping to experience something new. After awhile of walking I http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/blog-349421.html I made it on my plane just fine everything hit me while in Detroit when I was connecting with my plane to Paris. Thankfully I slept the entire time It was an eight hour flight and I landed in Paris at 11am. So I wanted to make sure I got some good sleep. The plane wasn't that full the one to Tokyo was PACKED so i didn't know what to expect. No one sat next to me so most of the time I lay http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Aquitaine/Bordeaux/blog-344805.html As promised here are the last few things that happened while I was in Nara and Osaka Japan before coming back home.Nara firstThe next day was our full day in Nara after going to see the big Buddha. We got up early and walked down to the Museum. It was really interesting and the first section that we saw had something to do with a big cultural event that happens at a certain Temple in Nara. They http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Osaka/Osaka/Shinsaibashi/blog-234295.html So i havent written much and wont write much in fact this may be my LAST entry Ill write more once I get back Ill be leaving for the airport today and with the time change Ill make up some time too.But anyways From Nara me and Jeff made it to Osaka Very cool place. We were able to see the Osaka Castle and do some other things. Very cool Will have to add pics later.Then we went one place f http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Osaka/Osaka/Shinsaibashi/blog-233219.html So Jeff finally made it and soon after he got to the hotel it was time to go out and figure out our plans for the New Year. I heard that one temple was good but on the internet I was reading that this one close by Gion had Maiko and Geisha there and afterwards everyone gathered in the park to drink and dance. So that place sounded cool. We get there and its crazy. SO many people were out ther http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Nara/Nara/blog-232196.html Jeffs flight yesterday was cancelled and it seem to have pushed him back 24hrs. So he wont be coming in til later today. In fact within the next hour plus his plane should be landing but there is no airport in Kyoto so he will be coming from Osaka which is almost 2hours away by shuttle. Its ok cause I heard of some great place to hang out Heian Shrine I think is the name have it marked on m http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Kyoto/Kyoto/Gion/blog-231650.html Wow so first I went towards Kiyomizu Temple. It was awesome If only for the fact that you walk down a tunnel in total darkness with you hand against the wall until you reach the end. Kinda freaked me out I dont know if Ive ever been in total darkness like that before. But it was an awesome and short experience. Then it was off to Ginkakuji Temple and the Path of Philosophy The Temple was am http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Kyoto/Kyoto/Gion/blog-231253.html So I did master the trainbus system and ended up all the way in Himeji Japan The train ride was about 1.5hrs. It was nice cause I liked just realaxing and watching everything outside. I got to see the Ocean side of Osaka on my way out. Very cool. The worst part of the day was waking up to the rain. Yup its raining and its cold. But thankfully it wasnt too bad in Himeji looked like a good ady http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Hyogo/Himeji/blog-230968.html