Category Archives: Trip Reports

Japan Trip Recap: Days 8 & 9- Tokyo

Japan, Trip Reports
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We wrapped up our trip to Japan by spending the last two days in Tokyo.

While we got to see and do lots of great things there was also a bunch of things that we didn’t have time for. I was hoping to wander around more areas, visit the Japanese version of a $1 store and also planned to check out the Yomiuri Giants stadium (and possibly find tickets to a game). Our plans changed a bit when Kim got sick after lunch during the last day of our trip.

It was really awful that she got sick but in some ways we were lucky. If Kim had caught something in the middle of the trip it could’ve cost us a few days and not just a half day.
It really made me think about how easily plans could get ruined in an instant by stomach bug or multiple other illnesses.

Even with this problem we still had a nice (more or less) 2 days in Tokyo.

Here are some of the things we did:

  • Pizzeria Da Isa
  • Meiji Shrine- Large torii
  • Meguro Parasitological Museum
  • Shibuya Crossing- Tokyo Times Square at night
  • Tsukiji Fish Market
  • Sushi restaurant at market

Japan Trip Recap: Day 7- Nara

Trip Reports,
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After spending a couple of days checking out the sites around Kyoto, we decided to take a day trip to Nara.

Nara is one of the ancient capitals of Japan and is located about an hour away from Kyoto (by train).  Just like our visit to Kyoto, we spent most of our day visiting sites which make up the “Ancient Sites of Nara” which are collectively a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Most of them are found within Nara Park.

Like Miyajima Island, Nara also has tons of four-legged friends wandering around. Surprisingly these were even more tame and also much friendlier! Interacting with the deer was probably my favorite part of the visit. Lucas wasn’t a big fan and got scared when the deer came too close to his stroller.
Here is what we did in Nara:

  • Kofuku-ji Temple– a variety of buildings
  • Interacting with the Tame Deer
  • Todai-ji Temple- Home to the world’s largest state of bronze Buddha
  • Kasuga Taisha- A shrine with lots of lanterns
  • Mos Burger- Japan’s version of McDonald’s

Japan Trip Recap: Days 5 & 6- Kyoto

Trip Reports,
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It’s been a while since I posted about our trip to Japan so here is the start of the second part.

After a lot of moving around during the first part of our trip we would now have four nights in one place. I’ve heard over the years how beautiful Kyoto was but it didn’t quite seem like what I had envisioned. I expected a more slow-paced city along the lines of Chiang Mai in Thailand or Ubud in Bali.

To find the beautiful gardens and ancient temples & sites you need to travel around the city and get off the main roads. When you enter a site all of a sudden the calm, quiet and slow-paced Kyoto appears.

Kyoto is recognized by UNESCO with various sites being named to the World Heritage List under one designation: Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto. The sites are located in Kyoto, Uji and Otsu. We visited a bunch of these sites around Kyoto and some are mentioned below.

This post will combine the two full days that we spent visting Kyoto

Here are some highlights:

  • Ginkaku-ji, The Silver Pavilion
  • Wandered around the area of Gion
  • Kyoto Station- Isetan Department Store Food Halls
  • Rokuon-ji- The Golden Pavilion
  • Being taught how to make Cup Noodles from school children
  • Ryona-ji- The Dry landscape
  • Ninna-ji, Five Story Pagoda
  • Seeing 1,000’s of torii gates at Fushimi Inari Shrine

Visiting Santa’s Quarters- New Orleans

Trip Reports,
santaThis past May we went on a trip to New Orleans. We had a great time and the city quickly became one of our favorites in the United States. We had to shorten the length of our visit due to an invitation to attend a travel blogging conference called BAcon. There is a lot to do in N.O. so I’m sure that we’ll get back there at some point, hopefully sooner than later.
While walking around the French Market District we came across a store that seemed to be just a bit out of place.
a sign for a restaurantWe were walking back towards our hotel when we saw a sign for Santa’s Quarters, a store specializing in anything you could imagine about Christmas.

Continue reading Visiting Santa’s Quarters- New Orleans →

Lucas’ Favorite Part of Minnesota- Ice Cream

Food, Travel with kids, Trip Reports
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Lucas double fisting at Izzy’s

Lucas started eating ice cream a few months ago but took a real liking to it in Japan. Just about any shop in Japan that sells ice cream has a humongous, fake ice cream outside.

Lucas had ice cream radar throughout the trip and his vocabulary started to change. For a while he was calling ice cream “ice” but then it started to become what it is today, “icekeem”!

While looking into things to do in Minnesota I found out that there was really good ice cream around the Twin Cities. I wanted to make sure that Lucas enjoyed the trip so I made a short list of five places to consider visiting (although the odds of visiting all of them in two days was not likely).

In our short visit we ended up visiting 4/5 places or 80%. I’d say Lucas would call that a successful visit to Minnesota! Lucas kept asking for ice cream so we had to give the boy what he asked for. To be honest, we should’ve really visited three places but one of the shops happened to be a few doors down from a toy train store we were stopping in for Lucas so how could we not try it out. Continue reading Lucas’ Favorite Part of Minnesota- Ice Cream →

Minnesota Mini-Trip In A Nutshell

Trip Reports
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On Friday we headed to Minnesota for a mini-trip to sample a little of what Minnesota has to offer. We didn’t go far from the Twin Cities but were very busy during our two days in the state.
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It was nice to get away from New York’s hot and humid weather for the milder weather in MN.
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I enjoyed our trip to Minnesota but didn’t love how everything seemed so spread out. I’d say that everything we wanted to do required a 15+ minute ride each time. With a rental car this wasn’t a big deal but if you don’t drive, this could be a big problem.
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Here are some of our highlights (in no particular order):
  • Seeing a Twins game at Target Field
  • Eating Jucy/Juicy Lucys
  • Visiting the Mall of America
  • Tour of the Minnesota State Capitol
  • Wandering around the Minneapolis Sculpture Park
  • Our stay at the Radisson Blu
Continue reading Minnesota Mini-Trip In A Nutshell →

Japan Trip Recap: Day 4- Miyajima Island

Trip Reports,
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Getting to our destination on Day 4 of our Trip to Japan took several modes of transportation, but that didn’t stop us. In order to get to Miyajima Island from Hiroshima we had to take a street car to a train and then catch a quick 10 minute ferry ride. Luckily, we made all the connections without waiting too long so the full commute took us less than an hour which wasn’t bad at all.

Miyajima is a walkable island with a good amount of sites to see in close proximity to each other. We picked a very hot and humid day for our visit. Kim, Lucas and I really liked the island and are glad we added it to our itinerary.

Here are some of the things we did:

  • Photos with the island’s four-legged residents
  • The Floating Torii and Itsukushima Shrine
  • Tasting a new sea creature for lunch
  • Ropeway (cablecar) ride up to the observatory on Mt. Misen
  • Quick stop for photos at Goju-no Tou, 5 story pagoda

Continue reading Japan Trip Recap: Day 4- Miyajima Island →

Japan Trip Recap: Day 3- Hiroshima

Trip Reports,
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We started off the third day of our trip to Japan very early so we would arrive in time for some sightseeing. We caught a 6:30 AM train to Hiroshima (from Tokyo) and were out exploring the city by around 12:30.

Most of our time was spent at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park which is made up of a museum and lots of monuments dedicated to the various groups of victims. We also spent a good amount of time walking around and exploring the main shopping area- Hondori Street.

Here are some of the things we did:

  • Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum
  • Checked out the memorials around Peace Park
  • Spent time viewing the A-Bomb Dome
  • People watching, stores and lunch on Hondori Street

Continue reading Japan Trip Recap: Day 3- Hiroshima →

Japan Trip Recap: Day 2- Yokohama

Trip Reports,
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After having a fun and busy day checking out Tokyo on the first day of our trip, we took a day trip to Yokohama. Yokohama is Japan’s second largest city, about 45 minutes from Tokyo by train.
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The main reason for visiting Yokohama was to catch a Japanese League baseball game. I was hoping to see a game in Tokyo but the date I needed tickets for was sold out. After reading a bit about the city, we also found a couple of museums that we were interested in visiting. Both museums were about Ramen and I had written about them in late 2011.
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Here is what we did:
  • Visited the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum
  • Yokohama DeNa BayStars baseball game
  • Had an awesome time at the Cup Noodles Museum

Continue reading Japan Trip Recap: Day 2- Yokohama →

Japan Trip Recap: Day 1- Tokyo

Trip Reports,
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We’re about half way through our trip to Japan and it’s time to start sharing some of what we’ve been up to.
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Feeling refreshed after an excellent flight on American Airlines (more on that another time), we got out relatively early to explore Tokyo on our first day.
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We made a bunch of stops, some being food-related. We also visited a beautiful temple and took in views from high above the city.
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Here is what we did:
  • Kappabashi- “Kitchen Town”
  • Senso-ji Temple
  • Daikokuya restaurant for tempura
  • Impressive views from the Sky Tree
  • Doughnut Plant, a favorite of ours back home

Continue reading Japan Trip Recap: Day 1- Tokyo →