Gretch Runs

It is officially the one year anniversary of my trip to Japan, so it's time to share the final post!  Kobe was our final day trip, and it was probably my favorite. Not only were we treated to perfect weather (a nice departure after the rainy day we had in Nara), but there was so much to see and do in the city. I loved it!  Here are some of my favorite things we did- Herb Garden The very first thing we did after stepping off the train was to head to the Nunobiki Herb Garden .  I actually found out about this from a YouTube video, and it sounded like such a fun and unusual place to visit!  The trip started with a cable car to the top of the gardens (which gave us an amazing view of the city).  There was a gift shop and cafe at the top, and we got to explore different herbs through all of our senses. We made our way down the pathway and saw different exhibits of plants and flowers.  There was a huge glass house that reminded me a lot of Phipps back ho...

One of my favorite parts of being in Osaka was its close proximity with other fun cities, which made taking day trips really easy!  We decided to take two day trips, and our first one was to Nara.  This small town is just an easy hour train ride away, and we made sure to get there super early to explore all day long. Unfortunately, this was one of the rainy days on our trips.  Most of the fun of the city is exploring the great outdoors in Nara Park, so for me this wasn't my favorite city that we visited.  But, there were still a lot of interesting things that we got to see and do!  Here are some highlights - Bowing Deer One of the major tourist attractions of Nara are the thousands of tame deer that roam around the park (and sometimes explore the city as well).  You'll see them everywhere, even in temples!  Vendors sell you cookies, and then the deer will approach you and bow to get a cookie.  It's crazy to see!  Sometimes the d...

For our final major city of our whirlwind trip to Japan, we decided on Osaka (don't worry- there are two more day trips that we took so this isn't the last post!).  To me, this city felt the most familiar- it was a lot more laid back and lively than the other cities.  People were talking more in public, cars revved their engines on the roads, and you walked on the right side of the sidewalks instead of the left!  The city definitely had a more edgy and young feeling to it, and I really enjoyed it.  Here are some highlights! Conrad Osaka Our final hotel was definitely the best- the location was ideal and seemed to be close to everything, the service was top notch, and we had a special lounge area for being Diamond Members which served a special breakfast and happy hour every day (saving us lots of money!).  The room was really beautiful too with a jaw-dropping view of the city.  The architecture and design of the building has also been showcased i...

When Dan and I were planning our trip to Japan, he had the genius idea to rotate between big cities and smaller villages.  While I didn't think much of this at the time, I think that became a saving grace and best part of our trip.  When we were about to leave Tokyo, I was starting to feel worn out by the crowds, always catching trains, and exploring SO much while feeling like there was still so much we were missing.  Hakone was the perfect antidote to that, with a relaxing and reinvigorating stay. Similarly, while Kyoto was incredible and we had so much fun, I was definitely looking forward to a more laid back and relaxing next portion of our trip, which came in the form of Miyajima.  A little island in Hiroshima Bay, this area topped most of the lists of most beautiful places to visit in Japan.  It definitely lived up to the hype!  Read on for what we did in our 3 days and 2 nights. Ryokan I mentioned in other posts that all of our hotels were pa...

Back again today with the next stop on our trip, which was Hiroshima!  This was a little different than other places we've visited, because this was just a stop to get to our next destination (Miyajima, coming in the next post).  Our train from Kyoto took us into Hiroshima, where we had to change to a local train to the Miyajimaguchi station and finally get a ferry over to the island.  But, since we were stopping in Hiroshima anyway, we spent a few hours exploring. The good thing about most train stations we were in was that there were cubbies for your luggage so you could stow and walk around without lugging around a bunch of bags!  We took advantage of that, then set off for the city. I had a vague idea of the significance of Hiroshima, but definitely learned a lot more while we were there.  This was the first city that was targeted by a nuclear weapon, back in 1945 during World War II.  You could still see remnants of the damage, most nota...

Welcome back to part two of my Kyoto diaries!  Today I'll be sharing what we actually did (if you want to see a sampling of what and where we ate, see this post!).  We definitely packed in a lot in the three days that we were there, and some of our experiences are my favorites of any trip I've ever been on.  I would highly suggest putting Kyoto at the top of your travel wish list! Hotel We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Kyoto, which was another amazing hotel (like I mentioned before, we used all of the hotel points that we earned for the past few years, so it was definitely a splurge).  Every night, we were invited to see a maiko (apprentise geisha) perform and were served champagne.  It was a great way to relax after walking around all day, and the maiko were always so beautiful with their performances and just looked absolutely perfect.  After the performance, they would walk around and interact with the guests and take pictures.  The geish...