We left Osaka  by train for Kyoto, 36 miles away. Saw some fall colors. Passed the Suntory Yamazaki Distillery. Kyoto Station is impressive. A shuttle bus comes from the Kyoto Westin Miyako twice an hour.  All hotels have at least one large Christmas tree. Check in went well.  Nice room.  Went to the Club Lounge to do my blog. Lot's of stuff to drink, but the food was only appetizers. Nice breakfast buffet. We debated going to Kiyomizu, where the Fall colors were almost past the peak.  However, this is a Saturday, and the advice was that there would just be too many people there.  So we instead caught the subway to walk up and down Shijo-dori, or Gion.  The internet here is very fast.  The next 24 photos took less than a minute and a half to download.  On some cruise ships, that would have taken all day. Kyoto Minamiza Theater. To Yasaka Shrine. Yasaka Shrine. Certainly our best viewing of Fall colors on this trip. Supposedly, Maikos and Geishas walk in kimonos on the street in G

It was a busy week, for I had a meeting to explore funding for the Blue Revolution, received my new passport, which allowed us to follow up on India/Qatar visas for our Regent Seven Seas Explorer cruise in November, complete the sign-up for our second cruise--53 days on Seabourn from Sydney to Honolulu next spring--finalized details for our outing this coming week to watch Jersey Boys, went to a campus football game,  and had a birthday party.  You say, what is so great about all that?  Well, my usual pandemic week involved nothing much more than write this blog, exercise, sometimes golf and watch Netflix. I've now been on the Manoa Campus of the University of Hawaii for 50 years.  I can still remember my first day in Keller Hall, August of 1972.  One, it's an amazing feeling to still be alive, but also, I deserve to do some celebration after all those years. Thus, to have my first tailgate party in my office was a monumental event, especially when I only learned on Friday that