Travelling in Japan - Day 2 (part 1)

After a somewhat restful/restless night, I woke up on my day 2 in Japan with a mild recovery from the previous day's 13hr flight (to a location 12 time zones out of sync with my own).  Our party all had to get up and get out early, since our JR bullet train ride from Tokyo to Kyoto was early morning.

The ride is about two hours on the bullet train.  Our JR train commonly maintained speeds between 150 to 160 mph.  We watched the city, suburbs, countryside, suburbs and city wiz by.  Of note, there were an unusual number of Ferris Wheels visible from the train, along with a rather high number of netted driving ranges.

Once in Kyoto, we dropped our bags off at our hotel, then went exploring on foot.  We found a good place along the river for lunch.

I had the Chicken Salad.  This dish was a 'salad' in name only.  The chicken was great, and the lettuce was really unnecessary.  The noodles where good too.  I was suprized that I liked the tofu skins that came with the appetizer.

The view we had while dining was of the river, but the river isn't much of a view.

There were several types of birds that were up to their bird-antics nearby the river, which did serve as mild entertainment while we enjoyed our lunch.  Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel to properly check-in and prepare for the afternoon exploration around town.

Travelling to Japan - first day

Well, here I am in Japan, on a business trip.  There are some expected things, and some not so expected things.  As expected, the bathrooms in the hotels are small.  The hotel rooms themselves are small, often with the bed butt up against one of the walls.  

Things not expected are many.  The main airport into Tokyo is actually quite a distance from Tokyo.  I took the JR (bullet train) from the Narita International Airport to Tokyo.  The trip took just under an hour, and included only a couple of stops.  

Have cash (yen)!  You may be unpleasantly surprized by the number of places that don't take credit card!

There is English all over the place.  Pretty much any business you might find yourself will have some ability to communicate with you, some better than others.  There are a lot of English translations for things like street signs, company names, restaurant menus, etc.

The mass transit makes getting around fairly easy.  Not everything in translated into English at every point, but enough of it is translated when and where you'll need it in order for you to get to the right location.

The first night I was the Tokyo, in the area of Shinagawa.  I met my co-workers at a quaint sushi restaurant.

 

Since I arrived late in the day and zonked out from a 13 hour flight, I turned in early with the hopes of waking up the next day gleefully well adjusted to the local time zone.  That plan kinda worked.  Kinda.

Brief stay at Nashville, Tennessee

While travelling last week, I had the opportunity to stay in Nashville, TN for a couple of days.  It wasn't long enough to explore the town, but long enough for a couple of hours visit to the Grand Ole Opry Convention Center.  Unfortunately, there was also a cheerleader competition convention in town at the Grand Ole Opry Convention Center.  Nonetheless, I was able to explore the amazing site, though I eventually had to retreat to a wine bar to escape the otherwise madness.

Caesars Head lookout over South Carolina

A short drive from Greenville, SC and you may find yourself up on Caesars Head, a mountain in upstate South Carolina.  The view is amazing.

Greenville, SC

Greenville, SC is a great little city in the Northwest lobe of South Carolina with a great downtown area and revitalization.  I've been experiencing the area as best as possible with just the evenings free.  On Sunday, I checked out the downtown.  There are lots of interesting shops and restaurants.  I ended up at Blue Ridge Brewing with funny faced beer mugs and vats at the entrance.  Monday late afternoon, I visited the BMW museum at the BMW Manufacturing Plant.  Hmm, there wasn't nearly as many BMWs in the employee parking lot as I think there should have been.  That evening, I ended up at Smiley's Acoustic Cafe for open mic night.  Somewhat suprizingly, the artists were good.  Thursday evening, I spent along Reedy River and visited the Falls Park, including the Liberty Bridge.  Then, I had a great dinner at the slightly more expensive Larkins on the River (good view of the river and great ribeye!).

Here's some photos!

I was lied too!

Recent trip to Vancouver, BC

I recently visited Vancouver, BC.  This photo set on Flickr pretty much tells most of the details of my time off. Here's some views:

Portland, ME

Allie and had a nice weekend in Portland, ME in Sept.  Beautiful town with friendly people, fresh seafood and nice weather.