Skip to main content

NARA TO KYOTO TO YOKOHAMA

Our stay in Nara was, well, nearly perfect.  Yesterday, we did not see a cloud, so the sunlight enhanced the oranges and reds.  Today, it was cloudy all day, on our train rides from Nara to Kyoto to Shin-Yokohama to Yokohama Station. 

But about Nara, we did not expect much, but it was the highlight of our Fall Colors visit.  While the cruise was fine, Hokkaido was a disappointment, which largely carried through in Tokyo and Nagoya.  Then everything got better and better.

Need to show a couple more photos I missed enclosing yesterday.  First, we saw a persimmon tree where you couldn't count the number of fruits.  What is your estimate?

That was in Nara Park.  Secondly, Nara has all that history and religiosity, but is today mostly a sprawling city.  While Nara Park is truly a national treasure, the city itself is nicely symbolized with this photo.
You say, why?  See the middle of the above photo?  Then target that religious middle.
In essence, that has happened because of "progress" and "infrastructure."  Nara itself has totally lost any spirituality.  Still, worth a see.

If you're planning to visit Nara, the hotel of history and character is Nara Hotel.
  • Five stars.
  • Located on a hillside overlooking Nara Park.
  • Opened in 1909.
  • Designed by Tatsuno Kingo, the sensei of numerous famous architects.
  • Emperors, Sergei Prokofiev, Bertrand Russell, Albert Einstein, Charles Lindbergh, Charlie Chaplin, Helen Keller, Richard Nixon, Joe Dimaggio, Marlon Brando, Nehru, Pope Paul Vi, Yul Brynner, Audrey Hepburn and the 14th Dalai Lama have stayed there.  Amazingly enough, this is a photo of Einstein playing a piano at this hotel.
This link shows that it would cost you $186/night today.  The J.W. Marriott is $279/night.  Then if you are at a certain level, you wil have access to an excellent Club Lounge.  At one time this hotel had no rooms available, so we signed up for the Fairfield, another Marriott place...for $98/night.  Was it worth paying three times more?  Yes, if you are a Platinum member.

So the day started with breakfast at the JW Marriott.

Noticed more hats and caps at breakfast.
The shuttle took us to Nara Station, where we were bade goodbye by my Blue-Bar Pigeon.
The rapid train from Nara to Kyoto.  If we caught the local train, we would have missed the Shinkansen.
Green Car on the Shinkansen from Kyoto to Shin-Yokohama,
Had a great bento meal with sake and beer.
Took this photo of a mountain with snow in case we missed Mount Fuji again because of the weather.
But, aha, Fuji-San.
Sometimes the scene is marred.
This interval only lasts around 3 or 4 minutes.
Then a couple minutes later, a final aloha.
Made it to Shin-Yokohama, and caught our third train for the day to Yokoyama Station, where the Sheraton Yokohama Bay is located.  Had a light dinner with Johnny Walker Black Label on rocks, Suntory Beer and champagne.
What a good day.  Walked 4148 steps.  
We have a free day tomorrow.

- 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A NEXT COVID SUBVARIANT?

By now most know that the Omicron BA.5 subvariant has become the dominant infectious agent, now accounting for more than 80% of all COVID-19 cases.  Very few are aware that a new one,   BA.4.6,  is sneaking in and steadily rising, now accounting for 13% of sequenced samples .  However, as BA.4.6 has emerged from BA.4, while there is uncertainty, the scientific sense is that the latest bivalent booster targeting BA.4 and BA.5 should also be effective for this next threat. One concern is that Evusheld--the only monoclonal antibody authorized for COVID prevention in immunocompromised individuals--is not effective against BA.4.6.  Here is a  reference  as to what this means.  A series of two injections is involved.  Evusheld was developed by British-Swedish company AstraZeneca, and is a t ixagevimab  co-packaged with  cilgavimab . More recently, Los Angeles County reported on  subvariant BA.2.75.2 . which Tony Fauci termed suspicious and troublesome.  This strain has also been spreading in
Post a Comment
Read more

Part 3: OUR NEXT AROUND THE WORLD ODYSSEY

Before I get into my third, and final, part of this cruise series, let me start with some more newsworthy topics.  Thursday was my pandemic day for years.  Thus, every so often I return to bring you up to date on the latest developments.  All these  subvariants  derived from that Omicron variant, and each quickly became dominant, with slightly different symptoms.  One of these will shock you. There has been a significant decline in the lost of taste and smell.  From two-thirds of early patients to now only 10-20% show these symptoms. JN.1, now the dominant subvariant, results in mostly mild symptoms. However, once JN.1 infects some, there seem to be longer-lasting symptoms. Clearly, the latest booster helps prevent contracting Covid. A competing subvariant,  BA.2.86,  also known as Pirola , a month ago made a run, but JN.1 prevailed. No variant in particular, but research has shown that some of you will begin to  lose hair  for several months.  This is caused by stress more than anythi
Post a Comment
Read more

HONOLULU TO SEATTLE

The story of the day is Hurricane Milton, now a Category 4 at 145 MPH, with a track that has moved further south and the eye projected to make landfall just south of Sarasota.  Good news for Tampa, which is 73 miles north.  Milton will crash into Florida as a Category 4, and is huge, so a lot of problems can still be expected in Tampa Bay with storm surge.  If the eye had crossed into the state just north of Tampa, the damage would have been catastrophic.  Milton is a fast-moving storm, currently at 17 MPH, so as bad as the rainfall will be over Florida, again, a blessing.  The eye will make landfall around 10PM EDT today, and will move into the Atlantic Ocean north of Palm Bay Thursday morning. My first trip to Seattle was in June of 1962 just after I graduated from Stanford University.  Caught a bus. Was called the  Century 21 Exposition .  Also the Seattle World's Fair.  10 million joined me on a six-month run.  My first. These are held every five years, and there have only been
Post a Comment
Read more