Back in 2020, the Belgian government offered every Belgian 5 free return train tickets to boost morale, the economy and local tourism (hashtag staycation and all that). One of my return trips was to the Kalmthoutse Heide, a beautiful nature park (one of the oldest in Belgium; protected landscape since 1941, state reserve since 1968) … Continue reading
Castle of Gaasbeek
Back in 2020, my mother, my goddaughter and I visited the Castle of Gaasbeek. This beautiful castle, situated not too far from Brussels, was going to close for renovations so we visited right before that. It took three years to restore it to its former glory, although I’d say it looked marvelous even before they … Continue reading
National Botanic Garden Meise
It’s time for a photo dump! I haven’t been editing my photos for quite some time, due to technical issues (that is to say, a laptop that didn’t recognize my SD-cards, of which the screen with a ton of broken pixels and other weird behaviour and on top of that a me who kept postponing … Continue reading
Cycling in Kyoto
Date: 22 March 2023Weather: clear, 25 CLocation: Kyoto The hotel provides breakfast vouchers for set meals at Yayoiken next door. There are 3 options: fried egg and rice, fish and rice, fried egg and bread. I chose the fried egg and rice set the first day and did so the next mornings as well. While … Continue reading
Gardens, Yokohama and my first shinkansen
Date: 20 March 2023Weather: clear, 17°CLocation: Tokyo > Yokohama Another friend N took me to two Japanese gardens: Rikugien and Fuku Furukawa Teien. The first had a beautiful 70-year old giant sakura tree, for which most people were there of course. We had to wait in line for 30 minutes just to get in, and … Continue reading
‘Take it easy’ days
Date: 18 March 2023Weather: rain, 10°CLocation: Tokyo It was raining all day, so I stayed in to rest and update my blog. I tried very hard to sleep but my bed was right next to the toilet and the fan has to stay on at all times, so not the best place for me to … Continue reading
Arrival, Narita, Asakusa
Date: 16 March 2023Weather: no idea, dark and warmishLocation: Narita Within 5 minutes on the plane, even before take-off, I’d already made a Japanese friend. I got to practice my Japanese and by the time we got to Japan, I was almost back to my level of 5 years ago (hadn’t spoken Japanese since!). After … Continue reading
Last preparations and a bit on expenses
As for preparations: I’ve been cleared for quarantine because I’ve been vaccinated 3 times (5 times really, but Japan only needed 3). So I don’t have to quarantine when I arrive. I’d already counted on this but I’m glad it’s out of the way. Taiwan also dropped most of their covid measures, which is great … Continue reading
3 weeks to go!
Since my last post, I’ve booked my stay in Nagahama (Shiga prefecture) after Kyoto, so I can do a tour around Lake Biwa, Japan’s largest freshwater lake. After that I’ll be revisiting a few places in the Kansai area, such as Nara, Osaka, Kobe and Himeji, and from there I might take another shinkansen (bullet … Continue reading
Here I go again!
Hello world, and welcome once again. It’s been 10 years since I went to Japan for the first time (always fun to read/tell people about that one again lol) and I’m finally going back in March. I’ll even be arriving the day after the day I arrived 10 years ago, haha! (flight plans didn’t make … Continue reading
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