Yearly Archives: 2011

The holiday season arrived in full force this weekend, whether we were ready for it or not! On Friday, I spent the day at the amazing Nob Hill Spa with the women from my office. A full six hours of lounging in a bathrobe, sitting on the terrace, hot tubs, saunas and facials. That night,…

Margaret and I went to see Carmen at the opera last Friday. We met up with our friends Greg and Kevin at the show – which officially doubled my usual social scene in the lobby! Carmen is fun because the music is so familiar, you can practically sing along. There’s a love triangle, a bravado…

So that’s it! Our ten day trip to Japan covered in four blog posts. A few final thoughts: Japan is awesome! There is no street crime, everything is super organized, people seem so relaxed. Almost every sign is in Japanese and English. Most restaurants have one person who speaks English or will be happy to…

We came down the mountain from Koyasan and spent our last few days in Osaka. We were back at the same hotel as our first night but exploring the city for the first time. It was a bit of an adjustment to the hugeness and bustle of Osaka after staying at the temple! The service…

Another set of great reader suggestions led us to spend two nights at the Shojoshin Temple. Bobbi recommended Japanese Guest Houses as a source for booking traditional Ryokan hotels online and two anonymous readers recommended Koyasan. It was quite the trek from Kyoto to the sleepy mountain town. Seven different transit lines from subways to…

Our friends who live in Japan, Alex and Mayumi, invited us to meet them in Arashiyama, a wooded neighborhood outside of Kyoto, for the Labor Day holiday during our visit. Our first stop in the early morning was a monkey park. I wasn’t sure what to expect but it was really great. The monkeys roam…

Our 10 day trip to Japan included three distinct cities in Kansai: Osaka (huge), Kyoto (medium, like San Francisco) and Koyasan (tiny). After arriving in Japan, we spent the night in Osaka – but let’s come back it at the end. Kyoto was super lovely. Just big enough to be a real city but perfectly…

What an amazing trip! 10 days in Japan now seems more like a few months of vacation. So many temples, restaurants, shops, trees, monkeys….all of it amazing. I’m still sifting through the photos and recovering from jetlag. Stay tuned for all the details!

I’ve figured out how to say “yes” but not “no” in Japanese. And I think I know how to get to the first hotel from the airport. That’s about it. Time for an adventure! Happy Thanksgiving. See you in December.

Rob and I went to the opera last night to see Xerxes. I considered cancelling altogether in favor of packing for Japan, but I’m so glad I didn’t. This was my favorite show of the season so far! Weighing in at a whopping 3 hours and 40 minutes, with Handel’s famously repetitive “second verse same…