Tag: ice cream

Travels to Chichibu, Saitama

*Warning – it is photo heavy*

This weekend, we decided on a whim to go to Chichibu・秩父 in Saitama. I’m not sure how I came upon this idea, but I did and we went.

It takes (depending on the train) around 1hr20 to 1hr50. The faster the time, the more pricey the ticket. My husband had a prior engagement on Saturday which didn’t finish until 15:00. We were aiming to meet at Ikebukuro Station to get the limited express Laview train at 16:30 but we got there earlier and decided to go with the express train to Hanno・飯能 and change ...

国内旅行: Tokyo to Hagi 6of6

Today was our last day and we left Honshu to go to Kagawa Prefecture, Shikoku. Getting the train from Okayama to Takamatsu, it felt like entering a different world. I love the vibe to Shikoku (and the weather, blue skies and sun shining). The view from the train is amazing when crossing over onto the island.

Before we’d left, we picked up a couple of geographically limited food items from Okayama station. Setouchi is famous for lemons (amongst other things). The pancake was nice, I prefer normal Happy Turn (ハッピーターン, try them if you haven’t).

We were off to a ...

国内旅行: Tokyo to Hagi 3of6

We departed Hagi, bound for Izumo. It has a famous shrine – Izumo Taisha. It has a huge straw rope and was the birth place of Japan.

For lunch we went for soba and zenzai. Apparently it’s traditional (but where can’t you get soba in Japan?). It came with a little fortune and a sand charm.

Then we started strolling down towards the train station where there are lots of little souvenir type shops and kiosks selling food. We had honey ice cream.

Next, we hopped on the train to Matsue.

We’d just seen a programme the night before ...

2022 golden week trip to hagi, yamaguchi: part 3

stone lantern with purple azalea

Day five and we were temple hopping. We started off at Daishōin Temple・大照院 which has a lantern festival in August and is a very pretty time to go.

inside cotocoto
two drinks against a window

Then we headed back to ‘town’, to go for lunch at CotoCoto. They had pictures of a vegan lunch menu on their instagram, but unfortunately when we went, the lady said that the person doing those had left, so they’d stopped doing them. We just ended up getting drinks – it was disappointing. The shop itself is really nice and they have a beautiful garden at the back. If you eat ...

2022 golden week trip to hagi, yamaguchi: part 1

hagi sculpture park

This year we went to Hagi for Golden Week. We got the Shinkansen both ways and I purposely booked our seats so that we’d be able to see Fuji-san. Unfortunately it was cloudy both ways, so we didn’t see him. It was lovely speeding along the Japanese countryside though, I never get tired of how green Japan is.

rail crossing surrounded by greenery

We enjoyed lazy days, eating ice creams, going to the beach, sipping coffee in cafes and taking long walks. They all look the same flavour, but the outer two are natsu-mikan (a citrus fruit) and the middle is from Hagi Purin. ...