Coming to France...finally!!

 For more than a decade, it had been my long dream to travel to Europe. I love French food, I love painting in France and the Netherlands, I love culture in there. About two weeks ago, something came up in my mind, made me thought, “Well, it’s time to trip”. I immediately found a flight to France, and within two weeks, I was in Paris.

So, where shall I start with? Of course....

 French food! Yahoo!!

 The menu was only French, but they kindly told me what they can serve, and I took a steak plate with red wine. It’s been a while since I drank last time. But since I came to France, there was no reason not to have a nice wine!

The interior of the bistro was super nice. Dark wooden high stools, chic tiles on the floor, mild yellow light shining from the celling...so great.

 After taking late lunch, I began walking on Paris. Wherever I looked, there are always old architectures. Classic style apartment with balcony, and small cute chimneys on the roof..It’s quite different from home in Japan, which usually lacks individuality. 

 Crossing a famous river Seine, I arrived at the great museum Orsey, where we can find one of greatest paintings of impressionists. Like many Japanese, I'm a big fan of it, and couldn't miss it!

 

 Build in 1900, the architecture of Orsay was originally made for station, and transformed as a museum later on. Considering its massive space and huge clock on the glass wall, that's understandable.

 Vincent van Gogh, Édouard Manet.... we can't see such scale of great artworks in Japan...Never!

 As I had a fresh fruit juice in a cafe, I finished my first day of Paris. About tomorrow? I will go to the greatest museum in the world!! :)

One-day-trip to Kamakura from Tokyo!

 One day in the late Autumn of 2017, my friend and I visited an old town Kamakura (鎌倉), located just one hour riding on a local train from Tokyo. Despite its convenient location, Kamakura is amazingly different from the huge metropolitan city Tokyo: the city centre is filled with cute tiny local restaurants as well as souvenir shops, deep forests behind the city sit just next to the Pacific Ocean. What’s more, fascinatingly sophisticated cafes are available like everywhere. But first, why don’t we just drop the train off at Kita-Kamakura (Northen Kamakura) station to start a casual trail hiking which lead us to a big statue of Buddha?

 On the narrow local way, we found a lot of temples here and there. In most cases, the admission fee was 200-300 yen, just a couple of dollars. Since Autumn leaves had still on the tree, fascinated us, we went to temples one by one, walking on the gardens and around.

 As we climbed up hills, we discovered an ocean view beyond trees. The air surrounding us wasn’t that cold, perhaps the temperature hit 10 degrees at that point. I always love those modest weather, you know :)

 So, here we are ;) If you pay additional fee, which is just for 20 yen,  you can make it inside the statue like we did :) You want to know what’s inside? Well....NOTHING XD

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 Okay, it’s time to have a nice meal. We found a local restaurant on a narrow street, and had a Shirasu (small, steamed white baby fish), soul food in Kamakura along with fresh Tuna. Soooo nice :)

 Before it gets dark, we strolled around the city centre, had some sweets while doing window shopping. It was truly a lovely day ;)

Relaxing stay at a hotel in Izu peninsula.

 When it comes to be a relaxing over-night-trip from Tokyo, Izu peninsula is one of the most famous destinations for many people. Hotels have fine hot springs, fresh sea cuisines including Tuna from the ocean nearby, and many many more is available. One sunny day, I caught the train to get there :)

 A couple of train rides later, I finally arrived at the destination. From my point of view as a person living in urban Tokyo, it was like, "Wow". A tiny station without anyone, thus no one checks my ticket. What should I do? Do I just pass the gate through, leaving the ticket on the desk without any staff? Well, I did it anyway, went out of the station.

 The hotel was initially for people staying with their dogs, and that explained why most of them walked corridors and pool sides with their dogs. I wonder why I came this place alone, haha. (Well, that's the story I sometimes do.)

 Reading old books, taking photos in front of a mirro...These are things I always do whenever I go outside XD

 Okay, let's have a Japanese style "Kaiseki (会席料理)" course. Starting from a small dish and assorted raw fish, they serve a variety of meals one by one, with different way of cooking and plates. I love this kind of gorgeous cuisines :)

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 I decided to take a short walk after the dinner, and it was then that I found the Milky Way lying across the sky with a whole bunch of stars. Astonishing, indeed. Izu peninsula is just 140km away from Tokyo, and yet I could actually see it in my eyes. I couldn't believe what I was seeing at first: I didn't even know it was possible to see the Milky Way in Japan...

 The next day, I visited some museums, and spend a late morning at a dog cafe.

(Again, my dog wasn't there, haha)

Having a casual lunch of noodle, I headed back to my home in Tokyo.

 Perhaps the peninsula of Izu isn't so attractive than other places like Nikko or Hakone, famous day-trip destinations from Tokyo. But I'd like to emphasize that it might be a nice place to stay, especially when you're so busy that you want to go somewhere without doing anything in particular. I'm sure I'll be back soon :)