Next day turned out to be rainy and so we decided to not go to Kyoto, but instead go to Nihonbashi shopping area.

But first, breakfast.

We found some takoyaki place at the Shin-Osaka station (it was really hard to find a non-smoking place). These are Takoyaki with soup.
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So next day came and we headed to Kyoto. Getting there from our hotel was an easy 23 minutes train ride (that set us back for something like 540 yen/person).

The day in Kyoto was preplanned in a way, it's when we planned to meet a friend that we have met at SC'10. He lives in Kyoto and also has Suigintou that Ksusha and our Hina-chan wanted to see very much, yes, Hina-chan also came with us to Japan

Anyway we've got to Kyoto and the first stop was at Tofuku-ji temple, a famous zen temple. It was established in Kamakura period, about 750 years ago. The name was taken from two major temples in Nara: Todai-ji and Kofuku-ji.

Central outer gate.
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So having left Nara we went to Osaka. Not that we really wanted to stay in Osaka, but by the time we knew the dates we can be in Kanto region, all hotels in Kyoto (and this is where we were planning to go) were sold out.

So we booked a hotel very close to Shin-Osaka station, convenient for travel to Kyoto.

Of course we got to Osaka pretty late, so no point in going to Kyoto that day, instead we decided to go to Amerika-Mura district in Osaka, that is known for it's big shopping areas.

We also wanted to visit Mandarake shop and to eat some yakiniku in the evening.

Interesting light posts in the area.
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On our last day in Nara we wanted to go to Kasuga Taisha Shrine, that was a bit too far away for a walk, so we took a bus instead.

As we enter the surrounding area we immediately see barrels with sake.
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Early morning of day 3 in Nara we headed to Tanzan shrine, it's somewhat outside of Nara, but promised very nice views.

First we spent some time in a train to Sakurai station

On the way to Sakurai station we passed this place with apparent preparations for New Year.
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For this blogpost we are returning to the Nara visit.

So on the second day in Nara we went to Todai-ji from the very morning hoping the sneak in before tourist groups appear.

Morning sun shining through Nara park trees.
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Today we have yet another out of line post I guess.

On Dec 18 there was a Dolpa 26 held in Tokyo, an event Ksusha wanted to attend, so just as if we had not enough flying already we boarded a plane and went to Japan (again).

We have read before that Japanese Dolpas are very unlike USA dolpas, but wanted to see it all with our own eyes anyway.

To get to Japanese dolpa you need to buy a guidebook, special booklet that is used as a ticket and explains the planned activities, has various forms and such.

The guidebook might come in two forms too, just a guidebook or with lunch tickets. They are sold in VOLKS showrooms or on the VOLKS website. Some events are very popular and the guide books are sold out fast, some events are less popular and the guidebooks are available for quite a while.
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On November 19, 2011 USA branch of Japanese company Volks - the VolksUSA were celebrating its 6th anniversary! Hooray!  So, on this occasion me and Hina-chan made a rich dark red cake with cream sweet frosting at home. This cake is very nourishing so, it would be very useful for a big party. And thanks to combination of the colors of this cake it would be looking very beautifil on your Christmas or New Year's table and I think it will impress every sweet tooth! 
So, today in the menu we have:

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting.


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Since we were tired after the long travel and late bedtime, we woke up pretty late and only left the hotel at about 11am.

This is how the hotel lobby looks like.

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We barely got back from Seattle as it was time to go to Japan. The trip we have planned for a long time already, to go and see the fall colors.

So, on Nov 21st we got to the airport and boarded an aircraft to Detroit first.

B747 in Detroit, the same kind of aircraft we would fly to Japan this time.

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