Light festival "Luminarie" in Kobe, Japan

Whenever I see illuminations anywhere, I feel like Christmas is coming soon. In this season, I always miss the city, Kobe where I used to live in Japan. Kobe is a city located near by Osaka, the second biggest city in Japan.

Luminarie is a famous light festival in Kobe that is held every December since 1995, the year big earthquake occurred in this area. The lights were donated by Italian Government and are kept up for two weeks and turned on for a few hours in the evening.

Although I won't be able to see it this year, I am looking forward to walking all the way under the lights next year.

Banff Trip - Canadian Rockies and Beautiful Lakes

Banff is a small town in Canada. Banff National Park is a Canada's oldest national park in the Rockey Mountains. I just fell in love with the great views!

Also the little town of Banff is nice to walk around. Its charming streets are abuzz year round due to an annual influx of millions of visitors, and this famous mountain resort town caters accordingly with world-class shopping, dining and accommodation. 

I did cycling and saw a black bear!! (Can you see it? A small black one in the pic.)

There were many animals like big horn sheeps and Elk! The picture below was the best one during this trip.

There are some lovely lakes near Banff! My favorite is Lake Louise (the last pic).

Hong Kong - Groumet and Shopping City

Hong Kong is one of the most energetic cities in Asia! It is currently a part of China but had belonged to England for a long time. Hong Kong is such a small city but great place for girls who love shopping and eating :)


A luxury hotelm Penninsula Hotel. Afternoon tea here was great.

There are hundreds of high buildings! Most of them are apartments. Surprisingly, I couldn't see nay flat house there...

Crowded anywhere...too much people in this tiny city.



Love those chinese food!! Beijin Duck, dim sum, bubble tea...I realize that most of my photos in Hong Long are about food :)

Croatia, Slovenia Trip

Last year I went to Croatia and a few other countries around there with my family. There are so many beautiful places and I strongly recommend you to visit the countries someday!

First, we went to Lake Bled in Slovenia. The lake is surrounded by mountains and forests and the lake itself surrounds Bled Island. The island has a beautiful church which is a popular place where weddings are held regularly. It was such a pretty day and I felt like I was in the world of a fairy tale.

Plitvice Lakes National Park is the largest national park in Croatia which is wold famous for its lakes in cascades. The lakes are all interconnected and follow the water flow. We hiked and took a boat in tha park. The color of water is emerald green and I can't forget the beautiful scenary there.

 Postjna Cave is known as the longest cave system in Slovenia as well as one of tourlism sites. Unfortunately, I could not take a picture inside of the cave. There is a castle which half of the building is located in the cave. How dangerous!!

Dobrovnik is the place I felt in love!! Dubrovnik managed to preserve its beautiful Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque churches, monasteries, palaces and fountains and now the city joined UNESCO world heritage.This histrical town and the Adriatic Sea coast took me to the old Europe!
 

The food was very good there, especially seafood!Scampi, my favorite :)



I have been to...

Americas - U.S.A, Canada

Africa - Egypt

Europe - U.K, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Montenegro

Asia - Japan, China, Hong-Kong, Thailand, Vietnam, Burma

Oceania - Australia



There are more places I wanna go travel, especially in Europe!!

Kinosaki, Japan - "Beautiful Hometown"

Although I like traveling all over the world, I really love my country Japan, especially my hometown.

My home town is Kinosaki in Hyogo Prefecture, which is near Osaka, the second largest city in Japan. Kinosaki is such  a small town but also it is famous for tourism.

Kinosaki is a historical hot spring town in Japan and the greatest place to feel Japanese tradition. Fresh seafood, hot spring, beautiful street, nature such as Japan Sea, mountains, Maruyama River... You can enjoy such great scenery here. I will introduce more about this beautiful town later...to be continued.

Nashville in Tennessee - "Music City"-

After going to South Carolina and Georgia, I went to Nashville in Tennessee to visit another friend.

Nashville, Tennessee -  it is most known as a center of the music industry, earning it the nickname "Music City". My first visit to Nashville was in 2001, 10 years ago. At that time, I was a high school student, so unfortunately I could not enjoy night life in Nashville. Therefore, I really looked forward to listening country music at bar in Nashville!

First, we went to Jack Daniel's Distillery. Tennessee is also famous for Tennessee Whisky and Jack Daniel is the most famous whisky company all over the world as you know. It was fun to see how whisky are made here and know the history of Jack Daniel. Also there is no entrance fee! You can participate the tour for free so great deal!!

 

Second, there is a museum coordinated by NASA near Nashville, which is called U.S. Space and Rocket Center. You can see many of rockets and a real space shuttle and learn the history of NASA there.

In downtown Nashville, there is a great museum for country music called Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum!

I really enjoyed this museum because we could enjoy not only Museum but also a concert! We went to lunch concert by professional country musicians which is held on every Wednesday. It took only $15 including lunch.

 

 Museum is also great! You can feel the origin of American music and realize what is country music.

 At night, of course, we went out to listen country music at bar. There are so many bars in downtown Nashville and you can hear the music even when you walk on the street.



The bar we chose was one of the most famous bar called Tootsie's Orchid Lounge. There was a great violinist and I just fell in love with the sound!! Such a great night in Music City!



Charleston & Savannah - "Old America"

As my first travel note here, I would introduce the latest trip, which is to South Carolina and Georgia in the United States. The primary reason that I traveled there was because my close friend lived. However, they were such great places and I recommend you guys to visit at least once!

Charleston is known as The Holy City due to the prominence of churches on the low-rise cityscape, particularly the numerous steeples which dot the city's skyline, and for the fact that it was one of the few cities in the original 13th centuries to provide religious tolerance, albeit restricted to non-Catholics.


This is Historic City Market. The picture on the right shows that a woman make traditional baskets. Once upon a time, slaves used to make and sell the baskets.

There are a lot of historical buildings in Charleston. I could feel like going back to long time ago.
The picture below was taken in Boone Hole Plantation, which is one of the most famous plantations in South Carolina. All the plantations were established before the Civil War and many slaves used to live and work there.

We can eat seafood such as mussels, oyster, sea bass and so on. Yum!!

Savannah is another historical town. It's located in Georgia State but so close to South Carolina. We went around the town by trolley. Some tourists took a carriage.

There are many squares and parks in the town. We saw a wedding held in the square. So pretty! The historical architectures were so beautiful as well.

Along the river side, there are many good restaurants and shops. Many tourists were walking around there and I realized Savannah was a popular place to visit in U.S.

The greatest meal in this trip was this Lobster!! Soft and juicy, tasted sooooo good!!!

Through this travel, I not only enjoyed sightseeing but also became familiar with American history a little bit. Actually, I was surprised because South East Area in U.S. has totally different atomosphere from California. It was my first time to think about it seriously...How embarassed! 

That's why I think that a journey enriches my life!!