Tag Archives: self-plan

20th August 2014: Shinagawaaaaaaark! {Japan, summer 2014}

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I followed D****e to Nippori [日暮里] to visit the famous “Nippori Textile Town” Nipporisen Igai [日暮里繊維街], and that was interesting. I saw a number of shiiiiny stuff, but I was strong and did not buy anything because I still have an awesome dragon fabric around that needs a use. Later we had lunch, gyuutan, and snooped around the largest Buddhist Graveyard in Tokyo, Yanaka Reien [谷中霊園].

This was also the day when Google Maps hated me, but I don’t want to write about that, because this is a journal for good memories. And good memories were created by going to Shinagawa [品川] and the aquarium, Shinagawa Suizokukan [しながわ水族館], which was lots of fun!

19th August 2014: Change of plans {Japan, summer 2014}

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My day in Kansai was yet another carefully laid out plan, only darkened by a 90% chance of rain in Nara, where I was going to head out in the afternoon. Morning in Fushimi Inari Taisha, afternoon in Nara, maybe heading to Osaka in the evening to eat takoyaki in Namba. However, just before heading off I checked my emails only to find one by D****e telling me about an even which was going to happen in Tokyo that evening – a VAMPS’ secret live.

Hyde had been mentioning a ‘secret’ with a number code which turned out to be the event that was being organised, timing up with the release of VAMPS’ latest single. Having discarded trying for their interviews in Osaka on the 21st. It was a tough decision, because it meant losing one hotel night – coming back to Kyoto would be a rough 5 hours the day before, and that night would be impossible.

In the end, knowing that whatever I chose I would be missing out on something I really wanted to do, I decided to go with what could not be repeated – the VAMPS concert.

That still left me morning and eawrly afternoon in Kyoto [京都], so I dashed towards Fushimi Inari Taisha [伏見稲荷大社]. I was rather amused to find that some torii were under repair. I spent two hours in the Inari Forest and Mountain, but once again I did not make it to the top – it was just too hot. I did walk along some forgotten paths and was alone for a good 40 minutes or so, which was amazing. One day I have to try this either at dawn or in winter.

The Senbontorii - a row of hundreds of torii one after the other creating a sort of tunnel. Also, the main building of Fushimi Inari behind the giant vermillion torii

Before heading back to Tokyo I wanted to do something else, so I headed up to Kiyomizudera [清水寺], the Temple of Pure water, which was sadly being renovated. Never the less, I could come in and see most of the gardens and Pagoda and stand on the balcony. There were dozens of wind-bells and despite the rumble of people it was magical.

The main entrance to the temple, and a view of the main building from the side, where you can see that it hangs from the mountain.

After that I went back to the hotel, showered, changed and headed off to Odaiba [お台場] to the VAMPS Mezamashi Secret live, an event that the band had organised to introduce two new songs. It turned out to be a seven-song mini concert, and the first time I ever listened to what became one of my favourite VAMPS’ songs, The Jolly Roger.

The Mezamashi secret live stage. It shows the band's promo picture and the time, 19:40. The stage is lit in red, and there are flags with the band's logo, a Jolly Roger.

18th August 2014: In Osaka, we stand on the right {Japan, summer 2014}

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Armed with my JR pass I headed off to Kansai via Shinkansen. I would be staying in a Kyoto hotel for a couple of days, but my first stop was Osaka [大阪]. Hereby, by the way, I need to remind myself that next time I have to do Kobe. And get a hotel close to Fushimi Inari so I can bloody make it to the top for a change.

Arriving in Osaka, once again, I felt an overwhelming sensation of being home, and that was once again the feeling I got upon remembering that I was to stay on the right on the escalator (in Tokyo, you keep to the left). My visit was carefully planned, even considering transportation times and queues. Yes, it was not the most… travel efficient one if you look at a map, but had to be done like that in order to work, time wise.

My first stop was at the Sumiyoshi Taisha [住吉大社] compound. Sumiyoshi Taisha is one of the oldest Shinto Shrines in existence, so of course I had to go there this time over.

After the shrine I headed off to downtown Osaka to visit the Ōsaka Rekishi Hakubutsukan [大阪歴史博物館], the Osaka Museum of History which features exhibitions depicting the evolution of the city from ancient times to the occupation period and the start of Western influence.

Although this was close to Osaka-jo [大阪城] (Osaka Castle), after I was done I headed back to the train station and backtracked half the way I had previously advanced in order to go to Shinsekai [新世界], the New World. there was something else I had pending here, and that was going up the Tsutenkaku [通天閣] Tower to get a view of the city and, of course, to visit Billy Ken, the God of Things as They Ought to Be, and his sidekicks.

After that I headed back to Osaka Castle area to be up when the sun set, and thus be able to see it lit up, which I had not managed the previous time I had been there either.

Finally I took the Shinkansen to Kyoto and checked in my hotel for the night.

14th August 2014: When trains took forever {Japan, summer 2014}

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It started with the train stopping for a few minutes that in the end turned out to be over an hour. Then there was an unexpected train change, and my Internet going crazy which got me lost. In the end my sightseeing morning was crushed to 10 minutes of walking around Shibuya [渋谷] and a Book Off visit.

Lunch was good as we met in the Book Off and headed for a great shabu-shabu. That was very yummy and I probably ate too much of it. But come on! There was wakame to spare and then some!! XD

Afterwards we headed off towards Shinjuku [新宿] to browse Kinokuniya Book Store to buy JLPT study material and, in my case, GACKT’s novelised version of MoonSaga, because I am weird like that. It was raining like crazy, too, so not much stuff to do outdoors, and shrines would already be closed by that time, so I was feeling rather unaccomplished.

We ended up heading off to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, Tōkyō Tochō [東京都庁], to watch sunset – which did not work as it was cloudy – and the pretty lights – which were fewer than usual because some of the buildings were not as full since it was Obon and many people had head home for the holidays.

Day was finished with CocoCurry. CocoCurry is always good, although I was so intent on reading kana correctly that I ended up messing up the order XD

13th August 2014: Samurai vs. Kaiju {Japan, summer 2014}

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We started the day in Asakusa [浅草], which would be one of my favourite places in Tokyo if it was not so crowded all the time. This time not only I wanted to visit the main Sensōji [浅草寺].

The Sensoji temple in Asakusa, whose most prominent feature is the huge red paper lanterns

I also wanted to check out the smaller protective Shinto Shrines on the side, like Asakusa Jinja [浅草神社].

Small shrine with two stone torii, two stone lanterns and two fox statues flanking them

The second temple of the day was Sengakuji [泉岳寺], close to Shinagawa [品川]. The name does not really ring a bell by itself, but Senkakuji is also known as the Temple of the Forty-Seven Rōnin, as here is where all of them are buried. The Buddhist temple itself is nothing special. It has the graveyard where the samurai are buried, and a small museum attached where you can see a replica of the drum used in the attack, along with pieces of armour and one copy of the declarative letter that they wrote. Another part of the museum holds wooden statues for all of them.

A Buddhist temple, and a row of gravestones with the names of some of the 47 Ronin

After having lunch in Shinagawa (in a… Mexican… kind of place called “El Caliente”) we headed off to Roppongi [六本木] to see Godzilla. Not the movie, but the sculpture that has been planted in Tokyo Midtown [東京ミッドタウン]. As a matter of fact, it was a very Godzilla [ゴジラ] summer in Tokyo. The Godzilla visit was done in two parts, one before sunset and one after it had gotten dark.

Godzilla coming from the ground, roaring

The two visits to Godzilla were separated by horrible horrible American food (I shall never willingly set a foot on a “Wendy’s” again) and going to the cinema to watch “Rurouni Kenshin – Kyoto Inferno”, the second instalment of a movie trilogy based on the manga of the same name.

Poster of the movie. It shows a man dressed in red traditional clothes, with an X-shaped scar on his cheek. Behind him, minor characters and the antagonist, covered in bandages.

Oh, and before we got back to Godzilla, we saw a gazillion and a half of Doraemon [ドラえもん] underneath Roppongi Hills [六本木ヒルズ], and pictures were taken with them.

A lot of people-sized Doaemon in different poses. Doraemon is a cartoonish ear-less blue and white cat

And here Godzilla tries to eat stuff (there are many good restaurants underneath Tokyo Midtown anyway):

A close-up of the Godzilla statue at night, lit purple and blue, and looming on a skyscraper

11th August 2014: Microwaved bread is a thing {Japan, summer 2014}

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The day started started late due to jet-lag and and on and off night and once again we set off to try and of a tea ceremony in Ginza [銀座]. However, for the second time it did not work out, due to the hotel we had selected had stopped doing it for the summer. Not fun.

We headed out for a late lunch and ended up at a place that tried to be a weird version of a British pub, called “The Ginza Lion” which had some nice set dishes that came with a choice of bread or rice. We both chose bread and we received a baguette piece with butter. Amusingly enough, the bread had been… microwaved. Not toasted but microwaved. I am guilty if having microwaved bread before when I was trying to defrost it. Jokes ensued, and I was there to write a blog post on why microwaved bread is a thing. It is, of course. Will mark trend, I am sure.

Afterwards we headed off to Harajuku [原宿] to cavort idol shops, which are always fun. However, there was an unusual crowd due to the release of Kanjani8 stuff, and some of the shops were too crowded to browse in peace.

From Harajuku we walked down to Shibuya [渋谷] for a couple of hours of karaoke (NEWS version of Weeeek is easier once you have gotten used to the GreeeN one, too). Then we went to The One Hundred Yen Yakiniku to eat barbecued meat and veggies and called it a day.

10th August 2014: Typhoon & Odaiba {Japan, summer 2014}

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One of the things I noticed when landing was the solid thousand-metre column of clouds. The reason for it was Japan’s almost-trademark hot humidity, but aside from that, there was a typhoon in the making. Now, a typhoon is basically he same thing as a hurricane, only that it happens in the Pacific Ocean. Temperature difference between seawater and the air above it create upwards convection currents that rotate around an axis due to the Coriolis force. This causes rain, strong winds and the famous “spiral structure” that we see on weather reports.

Well, on Sunday we were scheduled to have a typhoon passing by Tokyo/Saitama. Our plans for the day were picking up a friend in Odaiba after performing the tea ceremony. However, when we were close to the place where tea ceremony was to be held, it was raining quite strongly, so we decided to go directly to Odaiba [お台場]. The reason for choosing that meeting point was seeing the hanabi (fireworks) in Tokyo Bay, but those were cancelled in the end due to the weather.

Far from being deterred, we decided it make the most of it, rain or no rain. The first stop was at Tower Records, where I got myself a magazine, just because I could. Then we headed off for a kushikatsu restaurant.

Kushikatsu is a typical Kansai food, anything you can imagine covered in mayonnaise, breaded, skewered and deep-fried. This restaurant allowed you to choose your uncooked skewers and fry them at the table. It was an all-you-can-eat for 80 minutes. In Japan it is very typical to have a time-constricted meal deal, during which you can order or eat as much as you want. However, when it ends you get kicked out a bit unceremoniously.

As rain seemed to have stopped somehow and the girls humoured my wanting to go to the Fuji TV shop to search for a Galileo phone strap that I had regretted not buying the previous year. On our way we walked into a “Hero” (drama by Kimura Takuya which is getting a new season) mini event. It had a mini museum with items from the series and shootings, and a small background for you to take pictures in.

After that we headed out to Shibuya [渋谷] and cavorted Tsutaya and once againお台場 (another branch, though).

(Zoom on the Tackey & Tsubasa billboard up there because… unexpected for JE)

8th & 9th August 2014: Never trust the French {Japan, summer 2014}

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I have discovered that it is easier to get up before 4 in the morning rather than between 5 and 8, don’t ask me why, but I suspect vampire genes. Boarding the connecting flight to Paris was a bit of a hassle as baggage drop took forever I (on the fast, already checked in queue, sheesh.) but the flight itself was good.

Transfer in Charles de Gaulle was however a true nightmare, which involved elevators, buses, mobs of people and staff calling out who could go on each bus according to the gate. Still made it to the gate with 10 minutes to spare… until they delayed the flight. The first notice talked about 3 hours, in the end we left with barely over an hour. Apparently there was something wrong with the entertainment system that could only be partially fixed, so we ended up with 15 films streamed over and over again.

I managed to doze through most of the trip, might have even slept some, because I had to watch Captain America II twice for it to make sense. Same with The Hobbit 2.

There were three or four turbulence alerts but it was not terribly bad, and we made up for the delay and arrived almost on time. It was Saturday, 6 am, which made it about 11 pm my regular timezone. I thought it would be dead, but surprisingly I was not, and after retrieving my luggage and making it thorough customs, I plunged into the maze that is the Tokyo chikatetsu service after being greeted by Tokyo Banana. The first thing that I heard when arriving in the platform was the music box version of SMAP’s “Sekai no hitotsu dake no hana“.

I’d be staying with a friend in Satte (Saitama), so that meant two hours and a few train changes along the way but it turned out fine. Now, getting the suitcase down from her third floor would be fun.

We decided to heard off for sushi and first Jmusic mission of the trip – which turned out to be Nakano Broadway and Shinjuku Book Offs. Sushi was, as always, delightful and I was quite oh-shinied by a few things in Nakano, also as always. Then there was a little DVD watching. That was an early night as jet lag and exhaustion eventually caught up.

15th July 2014: Robots and Drums (Madrid, Spain)

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A bit over ten years ago, when I was in universe one of my neighbours was paying for a proto-on-demand TV subscription, and it turned out that my TV caught it for some reason. At that time I got to watch a bunch of anime – in Spanish, badly-translated and rather… altered. Among the series I watched was Gainax’s “Neon Genesis Evangelion”, or Shinseiki Evangerion [新世紀エヴァンゲリオン]. Evangelion is a rather confusing series in itself, but the creative translation and censorship made it almost impossible to understand. Evangelion tries to be a giant robot anime with a religious / philosophical background, where humans piloting huge robots (“EVA”) battle monsters called “angels” which apparently seek to destroy humanity. Or something.

The point of this anime-history paragraph is to explain how I ended up at the Museo ABC de Dibujo e Ilustración, the drawing and illustration museum in Madrid. They were running an exhibition about Evangelion and the Japanese katana Evangelion y las katanas japonesas. It was something interesting to see, and the first time I’ve ever seen actual Japanese katana information. The exhibition has three focuses – actual katana, recreations and figures of elements of the series, such as the robots, pilots or weapons, and weapons inspired by the anime.

After the exhibition I took the underground towards the thratre Teatro Circo Price to watch a taiko exhibition: “Taiko Performing Arts Ensemble: Dandan” by Kodo. Taiko are the traditional Japanese drums and there is a whole drumming style for them. It was really, really fun. Due to a fluke of destiny, I had very good seats, so I could enjoy to the fullest – far away from the reverberation and echoes, close enough so I could even sneak in a good picture or two!

The performance was amazing. I think this was the first time I’ve ever seen something so grandeur. Even when I saw a taiko school in Japan, it was just drumming, while Kodo added a lot of acrobatics to the mix. It was really great!

Unfortunately, I could not even check the merchandise after the performance as I had to run for my train, or risk getting stranded overnight in Madrid.

14th June 2014: Falconry & Birds of Prey Exhibition in Guadalajara (Spain)

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Falconry is one of those things that I’m torn about – on the one hand I’m not really keen on animal labour and shows, but being close to those animals is an amazing experience. The town of Guadalajara was celebrating the 900th anniversary of the passing of the Medieval Hero Minaya’s passing, and falconry was common technique at the time.

Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar was a Castilian knight and warlord who lived in the 11th-century Spain. He was called El Cid Campeador which roughly means the Master of the Battlefield. He was a glorified mercenary, and has made history books as one of the most important history heroes. He was exiled when he confronted the King about killing his predecessor. One of his generals, Álvar Fáñez Minaya, is credited with liberating the town of Guadalajara from the Moors. Just as El Cid represents courage and strength, Minaya represents loyalty.

Guadalajara really likes the figure of Minaya – he is in the local coat of arms and flag, there’s a school and a Moorish tower named after him. And as he was supposed to have been an excellent falconer, the exhibition was organised. I never caught the name of the owners of the animals, but there were some very impressive birds over there – Steppe eagle, Eurasian eagle-owl, Iberian imperial eagle, Turkish vulture, a hawk / falcon and… and that’s the end of my ornithology knowledge. All in all the animals were beautiful, although people not respecting their space made me a little bit sad.

1st June 2014: “La Mirada Interior” exhibition in Guadalajara (Spain)

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This Japanese-culture exhibition was held in the Palacio del Infantado in Guadalajara and I dropped by because seeing Japanese stuff in a Gothic palace was… well… weird. Here are some pictures:

28th & 29th March 2014: London (England, Great Britain) for VAMPS

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A friend convinced me to attend this VAMPS concert in London by paying for the VIP upgrade in advance. I took a red-eye flight on Saturday morning to Gatwick and went directly to Camden, where the venue, Koko live house, stood.

The venue, a neoclassical building with a marking reading Koko

Aside from the run to the hotel, I spent most of the day in the queue, which was rewarded when I got an autograph from HYDE himself on the Sex Blood Rock ‘n’ Roll album.

Hyde's autograph on the Sex Blood Rock n' Roll CD

It was probably due to the high of the autograph, but this is one of the best concerts that I’ve ever attended, with lots of amazing songs, and I had a great time. I did not freeze during the Meet and Greet, and I shook hands with both members, mumbled something along the lines of “thanks for the autograph” to Hyde and “thanks for the pick” to K.A.Z, referring to the one I got in Barcelona. Then I bounced off the evening with most of the songs:
  1. Devil side
  2. Redrum
  3. The past
  4. Secret in my heart
  5. Replay
  6. Dolly
  7. Sweet Dreams
  8. Life on Mars?
  9. Hunting II
  10. World’s end
  11. Angel trip
  12. Trouble
  13. Midnight celebration
  14. Revolution II
  15. Memories
  16. Love addict
  17. Sex Blood Rock N’ Roll

The venue at night

The next morning my friend went off to the airport first thing in the morning. I was not travelling back till the evening, so I took the chance to… Well, first things first, I took the chance to get myself to a Costa Coffee and get a vanilla latte.

A Costa coffee dispossable glass

Then I took the underground towards the end of the world, or more precisely the end of the Jubilee line – to North Greenwich. I took the O2 Arena exit, to say hi the IndigO2, where I had been once back in 2012 to attend the L’Arc~en~Ciel World Tour, the first and only time I’ve ever seen them.

North Greenwich undergrond station

The O2, a huge tent with crane-looking structures that reminds one of a giant hedgehog

I left the O2 Arena behind, and walked about 20 minutes towards the Cutty Sark, a tea clipper built in Dumbarton in 1869. It took eight trips to China to trade for tea and other items. Its history involved mutinee, murder, trampling of cargo and travels to Asia and Australia. In the 1880s it was considered one of the fastest ships if not the fastest sailing the ocean.

A landed sailboat

The Cutty Sark’s figurehead is the witch Nannie Dee, created by Robert Burns – in the poem a man falls in… love or lust… with a witch during a coven meeting that he’s spying, and the witch chases him away, getting away with the tail of his horse, that you can see in her hand.

Close up of the ship. It is perched on a glass structure that gives away tot he museum

The steam engines made sail-ships obsolete, but the Cutty Sark was active until the 1950s, when it was rammed by another ship on the Thames. In 1954 it was moved to a custom-dock in Greenwich to become a museum.

I wanted to see the exhibition inside, which turned out out be about Chinese tea and the history of the ship, which was not unexpected. I bought a pet-rat souvenir plush because I found it adorable. In 2007 it was ravaged by a fire, and extensive rebuilding works were undertaken, which included building a new support of glass and steel that would also become the new visitor centre when the museum reopened in 2012 (when I was there in 2012 it was not yet open. I guess this was an itch I had to scratch).

Different objects in the Cutty Sark museum - tea boxes, sailing instruments, the steering wheel, marionettes, one of the original floaters

A small black rat plush with the Cutty Sark tag

Oh, and by the way… here’s the binnacle!

An actual binnacle compass

I walked back towards the underground and by the Thames riverbank.

Thames and riverbank

There stands the Old Royal Naval College, a Unesco World Heritage site build between 1696 and 1712 – it was originally conceived as a hospital and it became the Royal Naval College in 1873.

Naval college. A symmetric Neoclassical building, with columns and a green lawn

Continuing on the riverbank, you can see the floodgates in the background.

Small waves at the walk near the river

I paid my respect to Admiral Lord Nelson Statue and went on.

A sculpture of Nelson, with his right hand

I had to take a bus at Victoria Coach Station to go to the airport, and I got a very nice tour of the city, with the Big Ben and Houses of Parliament…

The Big Ben or Elizabeth Tower

… the London Eye …

The London Eye, a giant ferris wheel

… and the Tower of London.

The Medieval Fortress Tower of London

Once at the airport, I had some Yo!Sushi dinner – not the best, but hey I take sushi wherever I can find it because yay sushi.

Sushi dinner

30th December 2013 – 1st January 2014: New Year’s in Toledo (Spain)

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30th December 2013: Arrival in Toledo

We took an early train to get to Madrid, and transferred to the high-speed line (AVE) to get to Toledo – the ride from Madrid was barely half an hour. Toledo is known as “the city of the three cultures” as during the Middle Ages, Christians, Muslims and Jews managed to live in peace there, and make it prosper. Today it is a tourist hub in the centre of Spain.

The first thing that we did was head off to the Alcázar (Muslim castle) – although it was originally built by Romans in the third century, its current look is owed to the restoration carried out in the 1540s. However, it had to be restored after the Spanish Civil War. The Siege of the Alcázar was one of the most symbolic victories on the Nationalist band. The Alcázar was under siege during the whole summer by Republicans trying to take it over, but in the end, Nationalist reinforcements arrived, chasing the Republicans away. Today, the Alcázar is an important cultural building (where the bullet holes can still be found) and hosts the Museum of the Army, Museo del Ejército.

From the vantage point of the Alcázar, we could see the Academia de Infantería (Toledo Infantry Academy), built in the 20th century in imitation of the Renaissance and Herrerian style.

We also saw the Castillo de San Servando, the Castle of San Servando, a fortified Knights Templar enclave. Fine, it started off as a regular monastery, but it was later given to the Knights Templar in order to protect the city.

Both buildings are on the other side of the Río Tajo, the Tagus river, the longest river in Spain.

After having lunch and checking into the hotel, we visited the cathedral Catedral Primada Santa María de Toledo (Primate Cathedral of Saint Mary of Toledo). The cathedral, built in Gothic Style, was erected mainly throughout the 13th century, even if it was only finished in the 15th century. It sports two asymmetric towers, well, one tower and a small Mozarabic chapel in place of the other one.

By the time we came out of the cathedral, night had fallen – truth is that we missed a little on the pretty windows due to it being darkish outside already. Nevertheless, this treated us to some nice night views. First of all, of course, the cathedral itself…

The Alcázar once again…

… and the Castle of San Servando.

We then walked through the Plaza de Zocodover, one of the city squares, where the old Muslim for cattle and horses was. The current layout was set in the 16th century after it burnt down in a fire.

We walked around the old town for a while until we found a place to have dinner, a Middle-East restaurant called La Casa de Damasco, one of the few times I’ve had real food from this area. I have to say I really enjoyed it.

31st December 2013: Churches and Birds

We started off the day at the Monasterio de San Juan de los Reyes (Monastery of Saint John of the Monarchs) is an Isabelline style Franciscan monastery. It was founded by the Catholic Monarchs to celebrate the birth of their son along with their victory in the Battle of Toro, in the late 15th century. It has a beautiful Gothic cloister.

Our next stop was one of those things that breaks my brain, a Christian Mosque, Mezquita del Cristo de la Luz. It was built in the year 999 as Bab-al-Mardum mosque, but it was turned into a Christian Church in 1085. I’m torn between rolling my eyes at Religions needing to assert dominance and being grateful the Mosque was preserved for us to visit.

Close to the Mosque stands one of the gates of the old walls, the Puerta del Sol, the Sun Gate, of the city walls.

Our next stop the Iglesia Jesuita de San Ildefonso, a church dedicated to Saint Ildefonsus, the patron saint of the city. Construction started in the early 17th century and ended in the mid 18th century, in the Baroque style.

From the upper towers of the church, there was a great view of Toledo.

We decided to walk down towards the river, Río Tajo, where we met a flock of geese (which I’m happy to report had not lost their heads to any kind of stupid animal-hurting tradition).

As we continued, we walked past a sculpture to Miguel de Cervantes, Estatua de Miguel de Cervantes, the author of the acclaimed “Don Quijote” book. The statue is placed beyond the Arco de la Sangre , the Blood Archway, that leads into the Zocodover Square.

As darkness rose, we had dinner in a Chinese restaurant. While we did, the lights turned on, and the city got ready to welcome the New Year with fireworks.

1st January 2014: Views of Toledo

We slept in, and after an early lunch (Chinese, again, as we were feeling decadent), we booked a ride in the “tourist train” that took us to see some of the most amazing views of the Medieval Town from the vantage points on the other side of the Río Tajo.

On the way back we saw the Puente de Alcántara, a Roman arch bridge built upon the foundation of the city after the Celtic settlement was taken over.

The ride ended up on the other side of the city than the one we had been favouring, so we just walked round the walls that fortify the city, the Murallas de Toledo, which are of Muslim origin over Roman foundations. King Alfonso VI is credited with finishing off the walls, and he named one of the gates after him: Puerta de Alfonso VI.

Another of the gates is the Puerta de Bisagra, the last of the monuments we visited before we headed back home the following morning.

One of the creepiest moments in this trip was realising that our key could open a room which was not ours – we got off on the wrong floor and we went down the corridor to the room door, and opened it. It was not our room. We were very quite put off by this, and it turns out that we had a master key. Finding this was a little freaky, and we tried to complain to the hotel. Furthermore, they wanted to charge us for keeping our luggage for a few hours.

Oh, and I caught a cold during our 31st at night escapade. Because of course I did.

27th December 2013: The Terracotta Army in Madrid (Spain)

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This was a bit of an unplanned event. I had been in Madrid the previous day with a friend and we had seen that the exhibition was going on. Unfortunately, there was a huge queue to go in, so we could not stay. Instead we got tickets on the internet and chose a standard “lunchtime” hour so we were almost alone watching the exhibit. That was awesome. The exhibition was held in the Fernán Gómez Centro Cultural de la Villa underneath Plaza de Colón (Colombus Square) in Madrid.

The Terracotta Army is called the Eighth Wonder of the Ancient World. It was discovered in 1974 close to the city of Xi’an (Shaanxi Province). It is comprised by hundreds of larger-than-life soldier statues built out of terracotta. They are part of the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, the first emperor of China. There are over 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses, aside from 150 cavalry horses. There are different types of soldiers and they have different ranks. Their function would have been to protect the Emperor from the spirits in the afterlife. Forty thousand bronze weapons have been found among the soldiers. For reference, they were buried with the Emperor around the year 210 BCE!

The Exhibition “Terracotta Army – Guerreros De Xi’an” displays about 150 replicas of the best-preserved soldiers, weapons and chariots, along with different decorative elements and a reproduction of the Pit 1, where the bulk of the warriors were found. It was a very interesting exhibition that made me actually want to travel to China to see the actual Mausoleum for real!

Afterwards we had tickets for the cinema, because “47 Ronin” was running, and the Cines Ideal show non-dubbed films, and basically… there was Akanishi Jin in it. The films has its… merits… somewhere… I mean I loved it but it was pretty bad – I’m not precisely known for liking deep, intellectual films anyway (≧▽≦).

26th December 2013: Japanese Exhibitions & Christmas Lights in Madrid (Spain)

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Over the Christmas break, there were many activities related to the celebration of the establishment of diplomacy between Spain and Japan, so-called Año Dual España Japón. We decided to kick off the day going to a Japanese restaurant, my favourite in Madrid, the Nagoya (believe it or not, this is the daily menu).

There was a Calligraphy exhibit in the national library, Biblioteca Nacional. On the way, we also found that there was an exhibition about the Chinese terracotta warriors, but the queue was insane! We decided to try to get tickets online for another day.

We went to Caixa Forum to see a Japonism (19th-century European art influenced by Japanese concepts and aesthetics). Honestly, pictures were forbidden, but I snuck one because I really loved the painting.

We also took a walk to see the Christmas lights. Here’s the Postal Service building, Edificio de Correos.

And a view of Gran Vía, one of the main arteries of Madrid, all lit up.

22nd December 2013: Derelict Monastery in Tendilla (Spain)

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Here are the ruins of the church of a long-forsaken monastery dedicated to Saint Anne, the Monasterio de Santa Ana, a Hieronymite convent built in the 15th Century in Tendilla. Originally, it was built half-way between the Gothic and the Renaissance styles. The monastery was abandoned in the 19th century due to the The ecclesiastical confiscations of Mendizábal, a of laws and strategies that resulted in the expropriation and privatisation of religious and monastic properties. The building was later “sold” for stone, and the tombs it contained were sent to other churches.

I used to be terrified from it when I was a child, but I had an hour or two free in the village so I decided to climb up the mount to have a look.

27th September 2013: Bunraku at Teatro Español (Madrid, Spain)

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Oh, Gods, this was an odyssey. Seriously, can’t we just figure out print-at-home tickets? When the announcement for the event came up, I got tickets. I actually called my parents to ask them if they wanted to tag along, and they said yes, so I bought three tickets. There were only two performances, and the tickets were selling out fast.

Let me start at the beginning – the announcement involved the Sugimoto Bunraku 2013 European Tour. Bunraku [文楽] is a type of Japanese theatre that uses puppets to perform about serious topics, mostly classic dramas (as far as I know). The puppets are dressed in amazing costumes and manoeuvred by artists dressed in black as if to become invisible. Sugimoto’s company is collaborating with The Japan Foundation to show this art to the world, in this case holding a European tour with the play.

Anyway, back to track: I bought the tickets, and the next step was actually getting them. I had to go to a cashpoint to get them printed (because, again, print at home? It seems to be for lesser beings), which was not easy as I was living in a small town at that point. On top of that, I got the wrong bank cashpoint at first (≧▽≦). Sometimes excitement gets the best of me, but in my defence a) I did not even know the actual bank existed and b) the mistaken bank had a similar name. And on top of that… in the end my parents decided not to come at all! In the end I gave the tickets to my cousin and her kid, who were curious about the whole thing.

We met up in Madrid, in front of the theatre Teatro Español, where the event took place, and it was interesting to see how the whole thing was sold out. The work that was performed is called Sonezaki Shinjū, which translates to The Suicidal Lovers of Sonezaki, or the Love Suicides of Sonezaki, written by Chikamatsu Monzaemon in the early 1700s. It tells the love story of a poor merchant and a courtesan. When the merchant is set to marry off another woman, tragedy ensues until the two of them decide to die together in the forests of Sonezaki Shrine. I’ve actually got myself the book (well, my cousin insisted on getting it for me as thanks for the tickets) to read, as there were no subtitles on the play, just a summary brochure.

Even though I’m no fan of the whole romantic drama thing, I have to admit that the music and the puppets made the whole thing eerily captivating. Aside from the puppeteers, the key figure in the play were the musicians and the narrator, which explained (in Japanese) and narrated the play. The way the puppets are dressed, the shamisen and koto music, and the way you see the puppeteers and yet not see them is super cool. Unfortunately, no pictures allowed that I can show you.

Afterwards, we met up with my cousin’s husband (I did try to get a ticket for him, but it was too late already) and we… had McDonald’s, because that’s what we do when he hang out.

27th & 28th July 2013: Segovia (Spain)

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27th July 2013: Echoes of a Roman Past

We took the train early on Saturday and arrived in Segovia in mid-morning. Segovia is a Spanish city of the Inner Plateau, located in the autonomous community of Castilla León. It has gained fame because of its many monuments and landmarks, the main being the Roma aqueduct in almost perfect condition, the cathedral and the castle (which may have served to inspire certain mouse-company for the Cinderella Castle). The city centre has been a world Heritage site from 1985 and the aqueduct received the title of International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1999.

We checked into the hotel, which was dead in the centre of the Main Square and then we visited the Catedral de la Virgen María, the cathedral. The building was constructed between 1525 and 1577 in a late Gothic style that had already phased out in the rest of Europe. We saw the cloister, the chapels and the apse.

Then we moved onto the Iglesia de San Martín, St Martin’s church, built in the 12th century in the Romanesque style, with a Romanesque-Mudejar tower bell.

We then took a walk around the city centre, and we came across the Palacio de Cascales, a 15th century palace that belonged to the Alpuente Count.

We passed by the Casa de los Picos, the “House of Peaks”, also built in the 15th century.

We somehow ended having these nice views of the rooftops of the city, too.

And passed by a very interesting house.

We finally got to the main event, the Aqueducto, the aqueduct. An aqueduct is a “water bridge”, a construction designed to carry water from one side of a valley or a ravine to the other. The Aqueducto was built by the Romans in the late first or early second century. It once transported water from the Frio River into the city, and it ran for a whooping 15 kilometres. It is one of the best preserved aqueducts in the world, as it was reconstructed several times through history, and it was working to get water to the city up to the 19th century.

We passed by the Casa de Ejercicios del Seminario one of the buildings of the Seminary.

We reached the Main Square, the Plaza Mayor again.

And saw the Romanesque Iglesia de San Andrés, St Andrew’s church, with a particularly nice bell tower.

After this we decided to take a break and have the typical pork meat lunch. Then we moved on towards the Alcázar. An alcázar is a type of castle or fortress built during the Muslim rule in Spain and Portugal. The Alcázar of Segovia has been through several redesigns and renovations, but it is a pretty impressive building. The current form was reached during the reign of King Alfonso VIII, so it dates from the 13th century, but it was retweaked by several kings and queens after that. It was the royal residency until the Spanish court moved to Madrid in 1561.

On the way we could see some views and the Iglesia de la Vera Cruz, the True Cross Church.

The Alcázar is quite an impressive building, in Herrerian style, with impressive towers. Part of it is a history museum the other part is a military museum.

It also offers nice views of the cathedral from the other side.

We walked back to the city centre and along the aqueduct again.

This trip was in July, and scorching hot back home, so we had not considered much of a temperature change. Unfortunately, Segovia in the late afternoon became more than chilly and we had to walk into a random shop to buy a thin jacket, then headed off to the Plaza Mayor.

Funnily, when we were having dinner there, someone warned us that the shop assistant had left the alarm tag on my jacket! That was amusing. We called it a day heading off to the hotel, and being duly impressed by the illumination put in place for the cathedral.

28th July 2013: Churches while the city sleeps

On Sunday morning, most everything was closed, so we took a strolling tor if the Medieval area, and saw a bunch of churches from the tenth and eleventh centuries:

Iglesia de la Trinidad (Trinity Church).

Convento de las Carmelitas Descalzas (Barefoot Carmelite Monastery).

Iglesia de San Nicolas (St. Nicholas’ Church)

Iglesia de San Quirce (St. Quirce’s Church)

Iglesia de San Esteban (St. Stephen’s Church)

We also had yet a different view of the Cathedral.

And we could see the Alcázar in all its glory.

Then we returned to the city centre, where we caught a glimpse of the Iglesia de los Santos Justo y Pastor (St. Just and St. Pastor’s Church).

We had lunch and said one last good-bye to the Aqueduct before we headed back to the train station.

4th July 2013: Yokohama Sea Paradise and GACKT 40th Birthday Concert {Japan, summer 2013}

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The day started Yokohama [横浜]-bound towards Hakkeijima Sea Paradise [八景島シーパラダイス].

The logo of the Yokohama Hakkejima Sea Paradise aquarium for its 20th anniversary, a jumping dolphin in the middle of a circle

I have tried to spare you fishy pictures, especially those I have shared already (read: I overcame the urge to post hammerhead shark pictures!! And deep-sea crabs too!!), but when I went to the Yokohama Sea Paradise, there was one main thing in mind that I had to see: the whalesharks.

A whale shark swimming

The polar bears seemed to be having a bit of a lover’s quarrel, but the camera did not do a good job focussing on them at the right times.

Polar bears exhibit. One is about to jump into the water, the other one is looking at the first

They also had an impressive amount of beluga whales.

Beluga whales swimming, the picture is taken from above, showing two of them clearly, and two at the bottom

And a very attention-demanding pufferfish or two.

A picture of benthic fish, with a pufferfish photobombing and swimming in the foreground

Finally I headed off to the other side of Yokohama, to the Yokohama Arena [横浜アリーナ], for the GACKT Best of the Best concert for his 40th birthday, which was beyond amazing.

Yokohama Arena, a massive white building

GACKT is a Japanese soloist music known for his ego and his… you may call it delirium of grandeur if you wish. He loves doing things big, so when I saw him in Barcelona in 2010 and 2011 I could only imagine how a big stage would feel. To be honest, it did not disappoint, and it was indeed grandiose. Furthermore, the 4th of July happens to be GACTK’s birthday so there were a lot of fun shenanigans going on, and a very nostalgic tone for old fans.