Trip to the Nags
Apr. 2nd, 2008 10:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aideI got back from Nagoya Tuesday morning but have only just organize my pictures and crap from my trip. I'm either extremely lazy (proven fact) or there were way to many picture (debatable). I don't know why I bother titling and describing pictures because then I feel even less like writing a blog entry about it. It's the same thing as when I went to Nagano. Oh well. I didn't put up the scandelous ones in Photobucket because I don't really need my family seeing my drunken self (again) and the ridiculous photoshoots we did which invovled a lot of sexual poses. Facebook is where those belong.
These are only a few of the pictures I took. I took about 160 pictures over 3 days. Impressive, but I don't think anything will live up to the 130-something that were taken at Andy's housewarming party. The rest are in my photobucket.
The trip was great. Day one we went to this little castle town in Kanagawa. Odawara took a lot less time that I'd thought, since the only thing to see there is the castle. It was nice but strange because there were monkeys and an elephant there. We dressed up as samurai and took ridiculous pictures.
Of course, all these moms started asking us to take pictures with their kids. What the hell? Despite being what you might think, I'm not here to entertain you. It started raining just as we finished there and we didn't really want to trek around in the wet so we left for Nagoya earlier than planned. Which is fine because it was a 4.5 hour journey.
Andrew whined about that, of course but we had seats all the way there. My largest complaint was the heat. HOLY FUCK. Are they trying to roast people alive? I was feeling quite ill by our second-last train, which was made worse by the hordes of people who got on after the baseball game. We had to fight our way off the train with baggage and some girl was telling people to get the fuck off so others could disembark. Good for you! Made our lives easier. Got to Yvonne's and we didn't sleep until 3:30am or something cuz we were up talking, middle school sleepover style. She had to wake up at 4:30am to take the first train out to Inuyama to stake out the hanami spot. Poor girl.
Andrew whined about that, of course but we had seats all the way there. My largest complaint was the heat. HOLY FUCK. Are they trying to roast people alive? I was feeling quite ill by our second-last train, which was made worse by the hordes of people who got on after the baseball game. We had to fight our way off the train with baggage and some girl was telling people to get the fuck off so others could disembark. Good for you! Made our lives easier. Got to Yvonne's and we didn't sleep until 3:30am or something cuz we were up talking, middle school sleepover style. She had to wake up at 4:30am to take the first train out to Inuyama to stake out the hanami spot. Poor girl.
Day two we went to Inuyama ("Dog Mountain") for the JET CIR hanami that Yvonne had been organizing and it was fun. There were only a handful of us so that was nice. Only a few names to remember. We were in this little spot off the beaten path with a beautiful view of the city and the castle behind. There weren't so many flowers out and it was a bit chilly, but that just meant we needed to drink more. Afterwards, we went into Nagoya to meet up with some of the JET ALTs that had done their own hanami but they were so trashed that we left after 5 minutes. Yvonne, Andrew and I with Yvonne's two friends Matt and Dan just went to an izakaya afterwards for some dinner before heading home.
Day three was Sunday and we didn't do much. Went into Nagoya and just shopped. Wanted to stay inside because it was cold and rainy. Took tons of purikura. Bought a new hard drive. Hadn't planned on it but we went into Bic Camera to check them out and decide what to get at a later date and saw that it was the last day for the hard drive sale so I splurged. Now I have a fancy new 320mb drive to fill with random crap (read: Arashi). Had the famed miso-katsu for dinner. It was good but very rich.
Day four Yvonne had to go to work so Andrew and I did our own touristy thing. I googled Nagoya and checked out what there was to do. There were a couple of things I wanted to do, but didn't want to drag Andrew to too many historical things because he doesn't care about that stuff. We ended up going to the Osu Kannon temple and checked out the shopping street there (very much like Asakusa) and did some omiyage shopping.
I got a daruma at this souvenir shop and a post card. Andrew was on a hunt for clothes and we must have gone into every shop that had those "lesbian shirts" (the plaid ones that are so popular here). I was getting fed up by the end because every store had the same shit. Afterwards we went to Nagoya-jo. Yvonne said it was crappy and boring, but I still wanted to go because that's the thing to do in Nagoya. There isn't much else the place is famous for. It was cool and there were loads of pretty photo ops. The inside had a cool museum that told the history of the castle and had some edo period artifacts. The view from the top was amazing.
Bought some more omiyage before we left and met up with Yvonne at Nagoya Station. She made reservations at a popular Nagoya restaurant/izakaya, Yama-chan. Actually, there's an outlet in Ikebukuro in Tokyo. Dan and Matt came and we had a nice dinner (and more purikura) before getting on the night train to come home. The Moonlight Nagara runs from Nagoya to Tokyo and I heard was quite popular during the Seishun 18 Kippu season but it wasn't busy at all. Had a terrible sleep, if at all and pulled into to Shinagawa station shortly before 5am. By the time I got home, it was 6:45. I would have gotten home sooner if I hadn't forgotten my back pack on the train. The guy in front of me was putting his on as I was going up the stairs and reminded me. I nearly bulldozed some guy as I jumped down the stairs with a "Sumasen!!!" and got back on the train before it left. I went to Abiko and came back but didn't have to wait for the train to come in the other direction. What a way to end the trip.
Day three was Sunday and we didn't do much. Went into Nagoya and just shopped. Wanted to stay inside because it was cold and rainy. Took tons of purikura. Bought a new hard drive. Hadn't planned on it but we went into Bic Camera to check them out and decide what to get at a later date and saw that it was the last day for the hard drive sale so I splurged. Now I have a fancy new 320mb drive to fill with random crap (read: Arashi). Had the famed miso-katsu for dinner. It was good but very rich.
Day four Yvonne had to go to work so Andrew and I did our own touristy thing. I googled Nagoya and checked out what there was to do. There were a couple of things I wanted to do, but didn't want to drag Andrew to too many historical things because he doesn't care about that stuff. We ended up going to the Osu Kannon temple and checked out the shopping street there (very much like Asakusa) and did some omiyage shopping.
I got a daruma at this souvenir shop and a post card. Andrew was on a hunt for clothes and we must have gone into every shop that had those "lesbian shirts" (the plaid ones that are so popular here). I was getting fed up by the end because every store had the same shit. Afterwards we went to Nagoya-jo. Yvonne said it was crappy and boring, but I still wanted to go because that's the thing to do in Nagoya. There isn't much else the place is famous for. It was cool and there were loads of pretty photo ops. The inside had a cool museum that told the history of the castle and had some edo period artifacts. The view from the top was amazing.
Bought some more omiyage before we left and met up with Yvonne at Nagoya Station. She made reservations at a popular Nagoya restaurant/izakaya, Yama-chan. Actually, there's an outlet in Ikebukuro in Tokyo. Dan and Matt came and we had a nice dinner (and more purikura) before getting on the night train to come home. The Moonlight Nagara runs from Nagoya to Tokyo and I heard was quite popular during the Seishun 18 Kippu season but it wasn't busy at all. Had a terrible sleep, if at all and pulled into to Shinagawa station shortly before 5am. By the time I got home, it was 6:45. I would have gotten home sooner if I hadn't forgotten my back pack on the train. The guy in front of me was putting his on as I was going up the stairs and reminded me. I nearly bulldozed some guy as I jumped down the stairs with a "Sumasen!!!" and got back on the train before it left. I went to Abiko and came back but didn't have to wait for the train to come in the other direction. What a way to end the trip.
These are only a few of the pictures I took. I took about 160 pictures over 3 days. Impressive, but I don't think anything will live up to the 130-something that were taken at Andy's housewarming party. The rest are in my photobucket.
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(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-02 02:12 pm (UTC)That's good you got your backpack in time!
(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-02 04:04 pm (UTC)I know right... I was freaking out. Luckily it was only 6am and not busy. There wasn't anything of value in it, just dirty clothes. But that would have been a bitch nonetheless.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-03 05:18 am (UTC)