David's work sent him to Minneapolis for a conference, so we decided to take a few days off and explore the upper great lakes region. David has always wanted to visit the upper peninsula of Michigan, and Paul hadn't been to that part of his home state in more than a decade. With the heat in high gear in Atlanta this summer the time was right to visit the north! We started in Minneapolis, drove up to Duluth, across Wisconsin to the upper peninsula of Michigan, down through Green Bay, and back to Minneapolis to fly out. This post will cover our time in the twin cities of Minnesota.
We've been to Minneapolis before, but only briefly. This time it was another brief stay - David's conference was only a day and a half, and Paul joined on the last day. Minneapolis is a fun and livable city, with cozy neighborhoods and a progressive urban vibe. Some of the neighborhoods we visited were reminiscent of Virginia Highland or Inman Park in Atlanta - leafy, pleasant and interspersed with small retail nodes.
Ruins of an old mill on the Mississippi River. Now parts of it are condos and a museum.
Bike/Ped bridge across the river at sunset.
First thing we did when Paul arrived was go to Mall of America so he could ride roller coasters!
We met up with our friend Emiko for dinner and took a walk around Lake Harriet.
Delicious food at Pizzeria Lola.
Sunset on Lake Harriet. Minneapolis has several lakes like this.
There was a live band performing next to the lake.
Sebastian Joe's...we ate a lot of ice cream this trip.
Downtown Minneapolis at night.
Sparrow Cafe, a cute little coffee shop in the Lynnhurst neighborhood.
The Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge.
Valleyfair amusement park
Wild Thing, the big coaster at Valleyfair.
When you arrive right at opening and go straight to the back of the park, it's not very crowded yet. Look at all the empty seats!
We made one last stop at Como Town, where Paul got another coaster credit.
Although we only had a limited time in Minneapolis, we were able to have some great food, explore a few neighborhoods, and meet up with some friends. Paul even got to ride a few new roller coasters. I'm sure we'll be back to this city sometime soon. Next stop: Duluth!
Today we drove from Kyoto to
Osaka to see the city for a few hours before leaving by shinkansen (bullet train) to
Tokyo. The first site of the day was
Osaka-Jo, an early 20th century reconstruction of a 16th century warlord's
castle. The castle had an 8th floor observation
deck from which you could see the city.
Unfortunately, the weather today wasn't great and a lot of our pictures
are a bit washed out, but you can still get the idea. The fall colors continue to be great in this
part of Japan. Hopefully the trees in
Tokyo will be just as beautiful.
Bridge to Osaka Castle
This castle had TWO moats...take that Europe!
View from the castle top
Osaka Castle had four fish ornaments, one at each cardinal direction
After the castle we
were all hungry, and Emiko has been craving some American food, since she can't
get any in Beppu. So we drove down to near Universal Studios Japan to eat at the
Hard Rock Cafe. Everything was almost
exactly like a Hard Rock in America, just twice as expensive. Emiko ordered the mega appetizer that came
with chicken tenders, chicken wings, onion rings, etc. This dish cost over $40! Our hamburger and fries were over $20/person
and the sodas with free refills, a rarity in Japan, were $8. Nothing like fine American dining!
Redonkulous Appetizer Platter
After lunch we walked
around the Universal City shopping center and found a takoyaki museum. Takoyaki is a Japanese snack that Paul really
loves. It's a little bit of battered
octopus that is cooked into a ball in a special pan and then topped with a delicious sauce and
usually fish flakes.
Unfortunately, we were too full to eat any today, but I'm sure we'll
find some more in Tokyo. The museum
itself was mostly just a bunch of food stalls and a takoyaki themed gift shop
with a catchy song welcoming us to Osaka ("Welcome to Osaka Takoyaki Museum" over and over and over).
Everything in Japan has a catchy song.
That's basically what a takoyaki looks like...but without arms and legs.
Paul LOVES takoyaki!
On the way back to
the car, we ducked into another game room and found a Mario Kart themed racing
game! The game took your picture and put
your face into your character's trademark items. David got Mario's mustache and hat and Paul
got Toad's mushroom cap. Unfortunately
for the boys, Emiko won the race. David
is getting super excited for the Akihabara electronics district and finding
some video game paraphernalia.
Woo-Hoo! It's a me! David-o!
At the shinkansen
train station we parted ways with our excellent Japanese tour guide,
Emiko. We are very grateful for all the
help she's been and the personal expense she's undertaken to help show us an
excellent time in Japan. Now we're on
our own for the last leg of our trip in the largest city in the world, Tokyo.
David is super excited to experience
Tokyo for the first time, and Paul is excited to return to one of his favorite cities. Unfortunately,
David is getting a bit of a cold (anyone that knows David and traveling
probably saw this coming). Hopefully,
the cold won't be a big deal and David can enjoy the last few days of the trip.
Shinkansen train. Average arrival time: within 6 seconds of scheduled time
For our second (and last) day in Kyoto, we decided to check out one more temple, then see a few more off the beaten path attractions. We drove over to the Arashiyama area, on the west side of Kyoto, which is famed for its bamboo groves. After a quick accidental stop at Nonomiya shrine, we walked through the bamboo groves to Tenryu-Ji, the "heavenly dragon" temple with gardens dating from the 14th century.
Giant bamboo trees
The gardens at Tenryu-Ji
A roof ornament near Tenryu-Ji
Statues on a road in Arashiyama
This guy is raising the roof!
Just across the river and up the hill from Tenryu-Ji is the Arishiyama Monkey Park. Wild monkeys live in the mountains in this area, but the monkey park has a protected group that you can feed from inside a "human cage." It was a bit of a hike to the top, but then there were dozens of adorable monkeys (and a few mean ones!) that we got to feed peanuts and apples.
Oh, I see.
Japanese monkey!
He really wants a peanut.
Just loungin' around!
There was a little pond that the monkeys drink from.
mmmm, peanuts... Note that David is in the cage, and the monkey is free!
This guy went for a swim!
After seeing the monkeys eat all of our peanuts and apples, we had worked up quite an appetite. We went for a traditional Japanese lunch at a restaurant along the river. It was a series of small, delicate dishes, along with tempura and tofu and broth cooked right at the table. We also had some shubu shabu, which is beef you cook in hot broth at your table and dip in either sesame or citrus sauce. It was all a bit pricey, but tasty!
David cooking his tofu (in the silver bowl) and broth (in the teapot).
Pretty tofu!
Shabu shabu
Next up was an unusual visit for a foreign tourist - the Toei Kyoto Studio Park! It's kind of like a mini super-Japanese version of Universal Studios (although there is a *real* Universal Studios in Osaka). It was totally bizarre - we had to learn how to escape from the Ninja Mystery House (really fun!), walk through a creepy haunted house, there were giant robots, anime girls, a huge pan of fried eggs, a fake elevator of doom, a tyrannosaur that rose from a pond in the courtyard of an old port city set, edo-era backlot filming sets, a ninja versus samurai filming demonstration, and more!
Three ninjas kick back
This is the hand signal you use to call a ninja to your aid.
This was only the second biggest robot in the place!
After our wacky ninja studio experience, we did some shopping near our hostel, then had some Indian food for dinner. It was actually really good, and relatively cheap compared to the prices we've come to expect in Japan. Finally we got our pictures taken in a photo booth that automatically makes your eyes look bigger. Apparently they're really popular with teenage girls. Oh, Japan!
Kyoto is the heart of old Japan. It became the capital in 794, and was home to each of the Emperors and royal families until 1868. It is chock-full of tourist sites, with over 1600 Buddhist temples, 400 Shinto shrines, and an incredible 17 protected UNESCO world heritage sites. You could spend ages looking at the sites, and in fact our guidebook suggests four days to a week! Unfortunately we only have two days in Kyoto, so we dove right in to some of the major sites.
We started at Fushimi Inari, on the Southeast side of the city. It's a magnificent shrine complex from the 8th century, with pathways of bright orange torii gates across the wooded hillside. It also has a number of statues of foxes, which are considered the messenger of Inari, the god of the rice harvest. It really was a spectacular place. Below the still pictures is a link to a video that we took that might help you get a feel for the site.
Pull the cord to ring the bell and then clap twice before praying to get the gods' attention!
Fushimi Inari
Row of Fushimi Inari torii gates across the hillside
Fushimi Inari - great sightlines!
From Fushimi Inari we went to a nearby Buddhist temple called Tofuku-ji. This temple is well known for its fall foliage viewing, and was packed with people doing just that. There is a bridge that crosses a valley filled with Japanese maples. It was really beautiful, despite the throngs of camera-toting tourists.
Tofuku-ji Gardens
It was really packed with tourists looking at the fall colors - notice the crammed pathway on the left!
Painted ceiling at Tofuku-ji
After Tofuku-ji we decided to go to the Kyoto train station to eat lunch and pick up our tickets for Tokyo on Wednesday. The station is bustling and very modern in design. From the roof on the 11th floor you can get a great panoramic view of all of Kyoto. You can even see the far off skyscrapers of neighboring Osaka.
Emiko's tempura at lunch
Looking down into Kyoto Station from the 11th floor
One of the most visited sites in Kyoto is Kinkaku-Ji, the "golden pavilion." It's a three story pavilion with gold leaf covering the top two sections, set in front of a picturesque pond and gardens. On the temple grounds we had some matcha (frothy bitter green tea) with a sugary treat with flakes of gold leaf on top.
Kinkaku-Ji
David didn't like this tea...his loss!
It was getting close to sunset, so we drove over to the Gion neighborhood. It's famous for geisha, historic houses, and lots of restaurants and bars. We walked down Shimbashi-Dori, a short but beautiful street along side a maple-lined stream, and also Hanam-koji, a street lined with 17th century buildings housing restaurants and tea shops. We stumbled upon Kenin-Ji, the oldest zen temple in Kyoto. Unfortunately the grounds aren't lit up at night, but one of the subtemples did have nice lanterns hanging from it.
Shimbashi-Dori
Kenin-Ji lanterns
Also in the Gion district was Chion-in, the headquarters of the Jodo sect of Buddhism, the most popular sect in Japan. It normally closes at 4:30, but it was open for a special event where they light up the temple and grounds, and you're allowed to go in the two-story temple gate (the largest gate in Japan). We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the top of the gate, but it was a breathtaking dimly-lit wooden space with carved statues and painted ceilings, including a large dragon. The main hall of Chion-in is massive, and quite impressive. Agian, no photos allowed inside!
Chion-in Grounds
The lit-up trees at Chion-in reflecting in the pond
Just down the hill from Chion-in was Yasaka-Jinja, a colorful orange shrine with lots of lanterns.
Yasaka-Jinja
For dinner, we had Chinese food for a change of pace. We tried a few different things, including spicy fried eggplant, jellyfish, a chicken dish, bok choi, and garlic shoots with pork. It was all really good, and a bit different than Chinese food in the US. David was not a fan of the jellyfish.
