T-1
2025年4月14日, カナダ ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C
We have the car ready for its staycation with the new car cover. 🚗
It will be lonely without us.
Made it to YVR
2025年4月15日, カナダ ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C
We got the ferry from Swartz Bay to Tsawwassen and then on to YVR today. We met Paul at the Fairmont Hotel right in the airport and have been spending a lovely afternoon together. ❤️ 💙 💜もっと詳しく
First full day in Nishinomiya
2025年4月18日, 日本 ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C
We had a long flight ✈️ from YVR to KIX yesterday. It was non-stop, a new route for Air Canada. It went very well, but still felt very long. Thank goodness for the comforts of Business Class, andもっと詳しく
1st full day in Nishinomiya Part 2
2025年4月18日, 日本 ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C
The second half of yesterday was wonderful. Our good friends, Kuniko & Yoshiaki, had a dinner reservation for the 4 of us at a very elegant Japanese restaurant called Nana En, right here in our hotel!もっと詳しく
Hiro Coffee day with Hitomi
2025年4月19日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C
We've been looking forward to Hiro Coffee for a long time. ☕️ Today was the day. Our friend, Hitomi, suggested it since we often used to go there together. It's still as great as it ever was. Weもっと詳しく
Another wonderful day in Nishinomiya
2025年4月20日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C
The main event today was a tofu nabe lunch at our friend Mariko's house, naturally quite close to where we used to live.
She came to our hotel to pick us up & she took us home, where she hadもっと詳しく
Kobeya
2025年4月21日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C
We used to ride our bikes to Kobeya for lunch. This time we walked from our hotel for dinner. It's the same as it used to be, except that you now order with a tablet on the table instead of talking toもっと詳しく
Shukugawa Park
2025年4月22日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C
It was a great day for a leisurely stroll along the length of Shukugawa Park, a linear park that follows the Shukugawa River.
Sky Garden
2025年4月22日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C
The Sky Garden is a rooftop garden, plaza, hang out place & sometimes entertainment place. It's on the 4th floor of Nishinomiya Gardens Shopping Centre. We sat for a while relaxing & watching kidsもっと詳しく
Ume No Hana with Michiyo
2025年4月22日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C
Michiyo took us out for dinner at Ume No Hana, a very elegant tofu restaurant. She remembered that the last time we were in Nishinomiya, in 2019, we had dinner there twice, so she made sure we gotもっと詳しく
Awaji Island
2025年4月23日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C
Today, we took a bus to Awaji Island. The fog was intense! We drove across the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, 4 kms long, and when it was built, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world. For most ofもっと詳しく
Around the hotel neighbourhood
2025年4月24日, 日本 ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C
Breakfast this morning - eggs have Best Before dates stamped on them. Pretty cool.
We've seen hawks soaring above the beach and hitel. Now we know they're kite hawks.
A map on the street shows theもっと詳しく
A trip to Happy Pancake
2025年4月24日, 日本 ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C
Yes, it's true. We went to a pancake place, but one like none other. Our friend, Yasuko, took us to this one in 2019, and we've been planning to go back ever since. The real name is Shiawase noもっと詳しく
Travel to Kochi, Shikoku Island
2025年4月25日, 日本 ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C
We said goodbye to Awaji Island this morning and turned our sights to Kochi. This is on Shikoku Island, the smallest of Japan's four main islands. We want to visit Emi, who was one of our homestayもっと詳しく
Arrival in Kochi
2025年4月25日, 日本 ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C
We arrived in Kochi in mid-afternoon, while Emi was still at work, so we took ourselves out to see Harimayabashi, the most famous landmark of the city.
Later, we got to see Emi, and we had a goodもっと詳しく
A garden and a beach
2025年4月26日, 日本 ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C
We got One Day Passes called My Yu Bus, which means My Play Bus. We used the passes to get to the Kochi Prefectural Makino Botanical Garden, Katsurahama Beach, back to the centre of the city andもっと詳しく
More garden then on to the beach
2025年4月26日, 日本 ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C
We saw some very surprising plants in the garden, some of which didn't seem like they could be real, but they were.
The Botanical Garden is located on some of the Chikurinji Temple's original land.もっと詳しく
Kochi Sunday Market
2025年4月27日, 日本 ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C
This is so much bigger than the Sidney Market. It goes on and on for several blocks. It's mostly local farm produce. The prices are so good!
The day before at the Botanical Garden, we had met Yaya, aもっと詳しく
Kochi Castle
2025年4月27日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C
After the Sunday Market, we continued up the road to the castle. Yes, we've been there before, but not for many years. It was fun to see it again.
JO C was proud of herself and her new knee in gettingもっと詳しく
After the Castle
2025年4月27日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C
We were ready for lunch after the castle climb, so we went to a nearby cafe that had a castle view. We had a great lunch, topped off by Ryoma Coffee. Ryoma Sakamoto looms large in Kochi because of hisもっと詳しく
Yawatahama
2025年4月28日, 日本 ⋅ 🌧 17 °C
This was one of those days in traveling adventures when you learn to embrace what life gives you, rather than what you expected.
We had a 5-hour, three-train travel day planned, with tickets in handもっと詳しく
Ozu
2025年4月29日, 日本 ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C
A morning train, an Anpanman train no less, took us from Yawatahama to Ozu for our next castle. It's a small one but a good one. Part of the town is preserved as it was in the samurai period.
Ozu continued
2025年4月29日, 日本 ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C
We happened to find a charming tea shop where we learned about and brewed high-quality sencha tea. It was delicious.
We walked around the historical part of town, enjoying the ambience.
Then weもっと詳しく
Matsuyama
2025年4月30日, 日本 ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C
On to Matsuyama, our next stop and also our next castle. We've been to this one before, but it was many years ago. It was nice to see it again.
On to Hiroshima
2025年4月30日, 日本 ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C
Another day, another train. Wait, no, that's not right! It was a ferry this time. We'd read online before the trip that foot passenger reservations were not possible; we confirmed that with a hotelもっと詳しく