Last night in KZ

On my last night in KZ, the girls and I headed out to some of my favorite places to eat, drink and be merry.

First we visited one of my favorite restaurants- the Don Don Yakitori Bar. The owner was so excited to see me that he gave me a book he had written about his experiences in the Yakitori bar. Truthfully, it is all in Japanese so I will have a tough time reading it but I plan to do my best!

The pepper sticks are the best. We ordered dozens of them- the owner told us our heads would turn into peppers.

Me and Caroline and "the book"

Of course, a Saturday night in Kanazawa is not complete without a trip to Apre, the foreigner bar. Amanda and Fiona and I ended up there and saw all of the usual suspects.

This night also ended with Jenja :)

Takaoka Day Trip!

Caroline, Amanda, Marie, Travis and I took a little day trip to Takaoka (about an hour from KZ) to see Amanda's bf, Jamie, and see some of the sights.

Temple!

Jamie and the girls

Travis and the symbol of the Maeda clan, the plum blossom

Me and the third largest Buddha in Japan

Perverts, GET OUT!

KZ

On Friday night, Caroline organized a little party for me and a lot of people came out so it was really really nice to see everyone.





The evening ended in Jenga :)

Kanazawa

My gracious hosts, Pam (7 months pregnant!) and Heath

There is a HUGE temple near my old apartment called Daijoji which I never visited while I lived there. So I visited on Thursday and it was great! Beautiful, huge and impressive!

View from the Temple area

On the way downtown- The Blue Bridge!

Kanazawa, continued

Me and Lord Maeda

The snowy walk from the garden to the shrine

Oyama Shrine

Snowy grounds

Snowy!

Kanazawa!!

On Monday, I took the bullet train and then local train from Tokyo to Kanazawa. I stayed with my good friends, Pam and Heath. On Tuesday, I met Pam for lunch and then headed towards downtown to go to Apita (and buy some funny Engrish shirts). The weather wasn't so great so I headed back early. On Tuesday night I had dinner with Jess and Phill. On Wednesday I headed to Kenrokuen. It was a snowy day (snowed more on Wednesday than I think all of last year!) and it was nice to see the garden in all of its wintery glory.

KENROKUEN GARDEN

Tokyo!

Me and the Big Buddha of Kamakura

Statutes for unborn children

View from Kamakura

Tokyo

Shimokitazawa

Last week was Spring Break at Northeastern so I took the opportunity to go to Japan for a week! It was a quick trip but I had a great time visiting with friends and seeing some of the sites that I had not already seen. I arrived in Tokyo on Friday, Feb 21 and quickly saw my friend, Dan, that I had met in Kanazawa last year. On Saturday, I went to Kamakura which is a little town about an hour outside of Tokyo which boasts the second largest Buddha in Japan. On Sunday, I met up with my other friend, Dan, a friend from Tufts, for lunch and then took a long walk around Tokyo. On Sunday night, Dan from Kanazawa and I met up again and we had conveyor belt sushi and visited some of the many bars in Shimokitazawa, where he works, and Shinjuku. I left for Kanazawa on Monday.

Jake Ivory's

Murder Mystery

For Kelly's birthday on Friday night, we did a Murder Mystery party. Aimee ended up being the murderer. I played "Tiny Bubbles", a prude debutant.

Nice Winter Day

The Charles River in Boston

Harpoon Brewery Tour

On Saturday, Kelly, Katie, Louie, Matt, Thad and I went to the Harpoon Brewery Tour. The word "tour" is misleading because it was really just a short shpeel in front of the brewery machinery and then a long period of tasting. I am not against drinking at noon though! And I particularly enjoyed the "Apple Pie" which was half apple cidar half Winter Warmer. I highly recommend it.

New Year's Eve

My high school girlfriends and I have a New Year's Eve tradition- we always spend it together. We have since we were about 13 years old. This year we rented a room in Hartford and enjoyed the pool, relaxed and then went to the fireworks in downtown Hartford. Though we missed the sixth of our sextet (Juliet), we still had a real nice time.

Katie, Kelly, Rachel, Heidi and Alexis

Katie and Me

Fireworks!

I always try to get creative with the night mode on my camera but it doesn't usually work out so well for me.