Cliffs of Moher by Star Cat on Flickr.

Cliffs of Moher by Star Cat on Flickr.

Ireland

 

With this entry, I’m going to catch you all up on both yesterday and today! Let’s start off with yesterday.

I started the day off by going on an arranged tour of the Kyoto Imperial Palace. Given the amount of history that has taken place on that site, it is a little disappointing to see that the majority of the buildings are from the 19th century (or later!). The buildings are still impressive in their own right, though. The tour took about an hour. The lesson of the Imperial Palace seems to be that if you build roofs entirely out of wood (the nails are made of bamboo), then you had better be prepared to rebuild it frequently.

After leaving the Palace, I wandered through the Kyoto Goyen. It was a grey, drizzly day, and there is a lot of grey in the park to begin with. I had moments of what I can only describe as absolute tranquility in a historical teahouse off the lake. The video is uploading to Flickr, check it out once it is done.

I much preferred Nijo-jo Castle to the Kyoto Imperial Palace. It retains much of its original structure, and its original gate. The interior is such that you feel like you are in a Kurosawa movie. (Mifune will run by any second!) My favorite remaining period detail was probably the nightingale floors. They’re actually quite loud, especially when there are loads of tourists tramping on them. The other thing I really liked about the castle is that all the fusuma were in situ. We have some at the Met, and we occasionally install them in our little period room, but it is different to see it in the castle. I highly suggest seeing Nijo-jo Castle if you go to Kyoto.

I ended the evening in an Irish pub. There are the workings of a post floating around in my brain about this experience, but it is late and I am tired. I will flesh it out later. They even had a traditional band. It was quite nice.

Today I went to Northwestern Kyoto. As this is a longer haul–an hour on the bus–I only went to two places. Both were sort of underwhelming compared to the other places I had been before. The first, Kinkaku-ji , is one of those places that is symnbolic of Kyoto. It is known for being plated in gold. Seriously. It’s a gold-plated building. The building is beautiful, and the gardens are nice. However, this had a very overtly touristy feel to it that the other temples, which were also swarming with tourists, did not have.

After that, I walked down to Ryoan-ji which is best known for its large zen rock garden. This temple is still in use, so a lot of it is blocked off. I thought the grounds were almost more  impressive than the rock garden. Or it could have been that the garden is not actually that big, so the hoardes of people crowded around it just seemed out of place.

I had dinner in a social bar on a side street packed with restaurants. I spent the time talking with two women my own age from Nagoya, who came down to visit Kyoto over the weekend. They gave me advice on tomorrow (Nara), and I shocked them with tales of NYC real estate and tried to convince them that it is not as dangerous as everyone thinks. It was a good evening.

Tomorrow I head out to Nara. It’s my last day in this area of Japan before I head south to Fukuoka, and the work part of the trip begins. Upcoming posts to look forward to: a look at the Japanese toilet and the Irish pub musings. Good night!

The plane to Frankfurt, Germany and our watery arrival in Dublin, Ireland.

Toms In St. Patricks Cathedral!! 

Actually, don’t get your hopes up. It’s not that epic, considering I’m tired and shall save all my tales of terror (jokes) from Ireland until tomorrow when I have the mental strength and brain power to make it sound like an incredible pitch for a Hollywood movie.

Anyway, this is, in that case, the not-so-epic first post to signal my return to Tumblr. I was very surprised to find a string of new followers and likes to various posts of mine. Yes, I was actually surprised. Though maybe seeing as I haven’t posted in over a week, these followers are actually inclined to follow me due to my lack of posts, as I always consider my posts so dull and unbearable.

I am aware, however, of how ridiculous that sounds. Why anyone would follow someone for not posting, I can’t even begin to try and justify. In short though, I thank my new followers, and hope I can provide some form of entertainment. *Cue sarcastic laughter*.

And now to sum up this seemingly pointless post. Tomorrow, you may expect the following:

• Tales of tears,
• Tales of friendship,
• Tales of drunk happenings,
• Tales of epic foodstuffs,
• Tales of stalker-like club happenings,
• Tales of rage.

I made that sound like I have many tales to tell. In fact, most of them can be reduced to ‘tale of …’

Singular.

Come on now. I’m not that much of an event magnet.

“Since Cromwell pushed us westward

My number one all-time-favourite barbie doll.

Connemara by SageE. on Flickr.

this seems to be a common trend in Ireland. layers are definitely key..

irish blood, gringo heart // on the last call poster at the pisser of an irish pub in the boston area the tag reads: “the rapture my ass! see you sunday.” the irish are awesome tough little bastards. these are the three lessons they have for us all. one, whatever the fuck it is, you can probably kick its ass. two, you will sometimes get your ass kicked. and three, quit your bitching and finish all your beer.

Headline win.

Ireland, ill miss you in ways.

My number one all-time-favourite barbie doll.

The joy of choosing hotels...

I’ve just spent the last 4 hours looking at and booking hotels in Copenhagen, Stockholm, & Finland. Stockholm was the easiest of the 3 - the first hotel I looked at ended up being the one I eventually booked, Helsinki was a choice between 3, but Copenhagen was much harder! There were plenty of hotels in Copenhagen, but not many with good reviews, in a good location, and at a reasonable price! Eventually got all the hotels sorted for around £60ish a night, which is not at all bad, I think! I could have gone ultra-cheap and looked for hostels or whatnot, but I really would rather have my own room than just a bed in a room with however many other people! Sure, I’m sharing on the ferry, but that’s just for one night, as it’s far too expensive to have a ferry cabin to myself. Hopefully I’ll hear back from the ferry company soon - there is an alternative ferry company I can use, but it’s more expensive and the ships are not as nice, so not the ideal option!

Nicolas Sarkozy: Do not Fly on My Vila

French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, to use its authority to enforce no-fly zone above the villa, which became a holiday for him and his family. For those who violated, will incur a fine, equivalent to hundreds of millions of dollars.

As quoted from page Telegraph, Thursday, April 14, 2011, Nicolas Sarkozy has adopted new rules as long as he inhabits the edge of the beach villa in Cap-Negre, Lavandou. The regulations prohibit pilots fly the aircraft at an altitude of less than 900 feet above the villa owned by his wife, Carla Bruni.

The punishment was not kidding. For pilots who violate this rule will incur a fine of 40,000 euros or imprisonment for six months.

This rule applies from the date of 8 to 26 April 2011, or during Nicolas Sarkozy and his family completed the Easter holiday.

This is not the first time Nicolas Sarkozy has implemented no-fly zone in his villa. Earlier in 2008, after marrying Carla Bruni, Nicolas Sarkozy also imposed a ban on flying in the area. A paparazzi managed to take photos Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni wearing a bathing suit, some other photos show Mr. Sarkozy was riding a bicycle.

Previously, in August last year, Nicolas Sarkozy criticizes after he closed access to the beach for the public when he was vacationing with his family.

Tourists forbidden to the beach because the beach erosion was reported rocks so that the beach is closed. But local residents do not eat this scam then doing protest.