Osaka

D and I had dinner at the Japanese restaurant in the Ritz Carlton Osaka, Hanagatami.

It was really nice.

The staff went above and beyond to accommodate us. We don't eat meat,fish or meat or fish stocks. That rules out a lot of traditional Japanese recipes but the chefs changed their recipes slightly for us.

I was so amazed at how good they were!

I should really write a letter to say thank you.

The surroundings of the restaurant were lovely but I didn't take any photos.

It would of been a bit awkward. You know what I mean!

Look a the "Japanese Garden" aka trees in white stones.

It was really pretty.

For appetizer we had this lovely tofu dish.

It had a sweet sauce. I think it was miso. The butterfly was made from sweet potato. The cucumber was nice and crunchy.

Cute huh?

I may of had two. Hahahhahaaaaaaa

Entree we had this tofu dish with zucchini and okra. It was delicious!

SUSHI! D hates it when I take photos of sushi because he thinks they all look the same.

So wrong.

Plus I want to remember what I ate on my holidays for some reason.

Not sure why. Just do!

Tempura. I'm still not quite sure what vegetables we ate..

But can you see the cute dipping salts almost cut off in this photo?

They were all different flavours. Eg, the pink was cherry blossom, green was green tea, there was curry, seaweed and one other I cant remember.

I think they were some sort of special fancy salt. They were trying to explain it. I didn't really catch on.

I liked the use of different plates. It made it interesting when each dish came out.

We had a glass of champagne and a half bottle of sake.

How cute is the sake presentation?

In this photo D made me pretend to pour sake.

I explained how its supposedly bad to pour sake for yourself in Japan. So I pretended to pour his.

I wonder how seriously the Japanese people take it now.

I'd die of thirst if I waited for D to pour my drinks. haha. I think its a nice gesture though.

For dessert we had some Japanese style dishes.

Not sure of what they are called.

This was some sort of gooey thing with powder on the top.

Not sure what it was. Can't really explain the taste either.

It was nice and interesting though.

Very chewy.

AND RED BEAN!! WOOO

I love red bean.

Who doesn't? It's the best!

We also had delicious green tea. The REAL kind. The powder stuff. I have to find some of it in Melbourne. I'm not too fond of the tea bag variety of green tea.

Staying at the Ritz Carlton was funny.

I'm not into their style of decorating

ie, floral, ye olde worlde.

How funny is the bathroom?

It had 2 chandeliers.

Haha. Funny.

I took this photo at the time thinking I would post it on my blog.

I have no idea why a toilet would inspire me to take a photo for my blog.

Hmmm.

Kinda gross.

Hahaaha

I'm wearing the Kirrily Johnston dress again.

It's such a good dress when you don't have time or your not in the mood for fuss.

After dinner we went to the bar in the hotel called "The Bar"

Hahaha.

LOOK AT THE CURTAIN MATERIAL CHAIRS.

Now do you get what I mean about the decorating?

I think its a fun novelty though.

This Dry Manhattan made me so happy. Words cannot describe.

There was a man playing the piano to the left of me and "singing"

By singing I mean, slurring words to a melody.

It was like he knew no one could speak English so when he forgot the lyrics he'd just make a word up. Hahah It was funny.

He did some Elton John and Billy Joel numbers.

Here are a few more random photos so I can finish my Japan posts.

Kyoto Station.

I like how ultra modern it is compared to the very traditional city.

Ooooh

Here is another restaurant in the hotel.

Here is a more realistic photos of me eating dinner.

Hahaha

Scoffing down and looking at D weird.

I think I had cabbage spaghetti. It sounded gross but it tasted v nice.

The prices were really good for hotel dining in this place too.

Lots of vegetarian options and a macrobiotic menu too.

I'm wearing a Karen Walker dress that has a spider-web print.

Here is a cool chandelier in the restaurant.

I liked it.

Not all chandeliers have to be crystal right?

Here is the view from the window of our hotel room.

We could see people in the office building on the right with our zoom lens.

I wonder if anyone looks into the hotel?

Weird!

Ahhhh

Here is me leaving the hotel!! BOooo :(

On our way to the airport :( :( :(

My face looks a bit stupid and awkward.

It probably looks like that majority of the time. Hahahha.

I liked the crazy flower arrangement a lot.

Here is me at the Kansai airport Starbucks.

Stupid photo I know, but I wanted to show the card.

So cool!

In Japanese Starbucks if you order SOY you get given this card and you have to give it back to the barista when you collect your coffee to make sure you definitely pick up the soy milk cup.

Thats so cute.

Never seen this at a Starbucks before!

This photo scares me.

The weird face I'm pulling makes me look like my dad.

Scary!

I am watching Modern Family now.

It looks funny so far.

Then a friend is coming over to watch the GOSSIP GIRL FINALE!!

WOO

Can't Wait !!

Xoxo

Kyoto

Hey Everyone!!

How was your weekends?

Did your Monday suck?? I hope not! I get excited for Mondays. I think it's because of the possibilities that a new week can bring. Eg, a new week of tv shows to download. YAY! Hahaha.

For about a good year, I don't think I would of got through Tuesdays without Gossip Girl.

Anyway,

I'm trying to finish my Japan posts quickly so here it goes.

Here we are at the Kinkaku-Ji Aka Temple of the Golden Pavilion.

The trees were so beautiful. That shade of green really came up well through the camera.

Cute Japanese School Uniforms. I wish we had them here.

Here I am looking all arty.

Don't I look pregnant in this shot? D's mum would be so excited. Sorry C. I am not preggers. It's just my scarf under the oversized cardigan!

Sometimes when it's raining and freezing outside, you just want a huge chunky cardigan!

More beautiful trees. I took A LOT of photos of trees in Japan. I wont bore you with them all. Hahaha

Here is the actual Golden Pavilion. From what I understand, it was basically built as a retirement pad for some old important Shogun back in the day. Back in ol' 19diggity2. OR 1397. Same thing.

It has been rebuilt since then. I think perhaps more than once.

But you get the general idea.

Can you imagine us building a golden house for a retired military general here in Australia?

Hahahhahahaha. It would never happen.

Thank you RAIN. Thank you for making my photos look FAB. Haha.

It rained ALL DAY. As in from 8am to 9pm. Ahhhh. I think the rain follows me on holidays.

Here is a photo of me with some Japanese school kids.

In Kyoto so many school kids wanted to talk to me and take photos with me.

It was cray cray.

I don't really know why.

Anyway, those two girls were SO CUTE. omg.

I wish I got their emails so we could be pen pals and I could practice my Japanese.

Next up is Fushimi Inari-taisha.

Wikipedia says Inari is the God of business and people worship for good wealth.

Dammit. Wish I knew this then. Would of stayed longer and prayed.

HAHA just kidding.

Wiki also says during Japanese New Year the shrine gets just under ONE MILLION visitors a day. Cray Cray !!

Anyway,

How funny is it that there is a convenience store right at the front?

Old/New Japan at its finest.

Also, how cool is the Japanese boys school uniform?

It's like some sort of Ninja suit.

Awesome.

Here is D and his pretty baby blue umbrella. He bought it for $3 at the shrine and it broke within 5 mins. He refused to take an umbrella from the hotel so I didn't feel sorry for him! HA!

There were loads of foxes through the place and they all had different objects in their mouth.

I liked them. They were sassy.

People write their prayers on these little wooden things and then the monks will burn them and your wishes will come true.

I wished that all my blog readers would win the Power Ball this week. Let me know how it goes.

Ok and finally we have,

Kiyomizu-dera !!

Look at that crazy mist!!!

It looks so magical and mystical. Ooooohhhh. Spoookky!! Hehehhe

Wash your hands and face/mouth before you go in.

No one does.

But I think it could be a Buddhist tradition. Perhaps it's to cleanse yourself spiritually before you enter? Not sure.

Maybe one of you guys know for sure?

Here is the main building. It was built in 1633 but the temple dates way back before then.

Wikipedia tells me that not one nail is used in the building.

I wonder how it is built then.

Maybe D will know.

He is good with this kind of thing.

How Karate Kid is this place?

D and I did a little Karate Kid photo session when no one was looking.

Had to keep it respectful! Hahaha.

Here you can see my oversized cardigan more.

I don't know what brand it is but I got in the plus size department of Myer.

I didn't realise until I was at the register.

I like it though. YAY. It's very comfy.

I wish the umbrella from the hotel was black. The navy blue doesn't match my outfit.

Here is D lost in a sea of umbrellas!

This photo makes me laugh.

He couldn't find me. I could see him trying to look for me. It was funny.

How cute are the pink blossoms!

Cuuuuuuuuteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. I like the misty background too.

Look how the rain made my hair frizzy. Thanks rain! Cheers.

I felt so darn comfy that day.

Thank you outfit for keeping me warm and comfy.

I couldn't of done Kyoto without you.

I hope that when you guys visit Japan you will get a chance to visit Kyoto.

It's so beautiful.

I know that Tokyo has all the lights and crazy stuff but Kyoto offers an amazing insight into the country's history.

When you are standing in those shrines you can't help but think about who was walking in that same spot centuries ago...

Maybe even a samurai?!

Maybe even Hiro Nakamura?!

Yatta!