Kyoto, Day 1

Our trip to mainland began early Saturday morning, as we made our way to The airport in Okinawa. We were flying with a discount airline called JetStar, so I was a little nervous of what the plane would be like... Turns out, it was a good flight, and the plane looked like any other plane I've been on.. After a short flight (1.5 hours), we landed in Osaka, Japan. I was hoping for it to feel a little more like fall, but it was hot! Anyways, we figured out how to get tickets on a train from the Kansai International Airport to Kyoto Station, as Kyoto was our destination. An hour and a half train ride later, we arrived! Took a cab to our hotel, which was a Japanese Ryokan (a traditional Japanese Inn). The man who greeted us was friendly enough but seemed to know limited English, so we were quickly shown our room, after removing our shoes, of course.

on the train

Our room consisted of two futons and a small table with green tea and cookies for us. There was also a creepy japanese doll in a glass case that reminded me how they keep the possessed doll locked up in the movie "The Conjuring..." Hmmm, anyways, nice clean room and plenty of space!

We proceeded to venture out and look for food, as we were leaving the man at the front desk asked us to leave our room key... After walking around the block 2 or 3 times we settled on a Chinese Restaurant; I had wonton ramen, and fried rice. Corey had fried beef ramen with kimchi, and Gyoza.
It was delicious (or maybe we were just really hungry)!

Upon returning to our room, we took back our room key from the front desk, and realised a door that we had closed on the way out had been opened... Either someone came into our room or that doll was trying to get out.... Haha, either way I was creeped out!

Outside of the Inn

More Favorites

I decided to add more old pictures of our favorite places that we've been to in Okinawa, because there are too many to put in one blog post!

So, our favorite places (in no particular order)...... 

 Strolling on the Sea Wall

 hanging out at Katsuren Castle

 Taking a tram ride at Pineapple Park

 Admiring the Sakura at Mt. Yae

 Walking through Bise Village

 taking the plunge in Itoman

 Feeling sacred at Seifa Utaki

 Nice view at Cape Chinen

 We love Sushi-Go-Round!

Look over there.... at Nakagusuku Castle 

 Swinging at Bios on the Hill

 Field of cows, field of dreams... at the Botanical Gardens

 Relaxing at the Marriot

 Gluttony at Jakkepoes Pancake House(but so worth it)

 Our weekly (sometimes more) visits to PartyLand 

 Garlic everything at the Garlic House

 gorgeous views at Thai in the Sky

Feeling cultural at Ryukyu Mura

Favorites

Today's blog post will be short, as we haven't gone anywhere too exciting this past week. Corey's work schedule is changing and our days off together are now going to be few and far between...I hope we will still be able to get out and explore so I can share with you all!

So, here are some old pictures of my favorite places we have been to in Okinawa so far..... Enjoy!

Swimming on Ikei Island

Shopping on Kokusai Street

Taking it all in on Torii Beach

Seeing double (or quadruple) at Shuri Castle

Enjoying the view at Cape Zampa

Cherry Blossom fun at Nakijin-jo

trippy trees at Zakimi Castle

Surfing not in the USA at Maeda Flats

Spelunking (not really) at Okinawa World

Getting grossed-out at the Habu Museum

(not) getting wet at a random waterfall

Peace! at Mama-san Beach

Wow! at Tadake Falls

making friends at the zoo (not sure why my hair is fluorescent yellow)

Paying respect at Peace Prayer Park

feeling fishy at the Churaumi Aquarium

Castles

I love castles. I've seen my fair share, and over the past 2 1/2 years, i've seen more than I would have ever thought. When my sister and I were younger, my mom and dad would take us on castle/mansion tours all over New England... I loved being able to go inside and see the old architecture, and walk around the grounds. The "castles" of New England are beautiful, but usually only date back to the 1800's-1900's. So, being able to see "real" castles, built as early as the 1100's, is so amazing to me... I will never get tired of visiting these places. 

The castles in Europe that I visited ranged from being well restored (and furnished) to ruins, but i enjoyed them all the same. There are so many more in Germany that I didn't get to see during that trip, but I cant wait to go back to visit more. 

The castles in Japan that I have visited are all ruins at this point, with the exception of Shuri Castle (the last picture you will see). It is said that there are close to 500 castle ruins located in the Ryukyu Island chain, so it may take us a while to see them all... 

Enjoy the pics!

My first castle visit with Corey....

Burg Nanstein, Landstuhl, Germany

built around 1162

 Desmond Castle, Adare, Ireland

built during the 12th Century 

 Burg Rheinstein, Rhineland, Germany

built around 1316

viewing the Rhine River

Some castles along the Rhine River

Heidelberg Castle, Heidelberg, Germany

built before 1214

Blarney Castle, Blarney, Ireland

1446

Going to kiss the Blarney Stone!

Nice view from Berg Nanstein

 Nakagusuku-jo, Okinawa, Japan

15th Century

 Super Mario moves

 Nago Castle, Okinawa, Japan

14th Century

 Gushikawa Castle Ruins, Okinawa, Japan

built mid 14th Century

 Katsuren Castle, Okinawa, Japan

12th Century

(the most fun to pronounce) Nakijin-jo, Okinawa, Japan

late 14th century

 Zakimi-jo, Okinawa, Japan

built around1416

 I can see our house from Zakimi Castle! (way off in the distance...)

The most famous in Okinawa... Shuri-jo, Okinawa, Japan

built around 1322

This is just the beginning of my castle tours; I hope to see hundreds more all over the world!