Mmmmmm mmmmmmm!!!!!!!  I don’t usually enjoy soba noodles that much but these were amazing! This is a tempura noodle dish from a restaurant called Ebisu in Takayama.  It’s a small soba restaurant that’s been in the area for over 100 years. They were by far the tastiest soba noodles that we ate in Japan.  I also loved the English menu […]

This is a float or “yatai” being displayed for the spring matsuri festival in Takayama, Japan. The festival is held for two days twice a year. Once in spring and once in autumn.  If the weather is good, the yatai are taken out of their storehouses and paraded around town.  There are several floats, all are beautiful and ornate.  Some are […]

Here’s a traditional house in Shirakawa-go, Japan. I loved these houses! It’s a pretty cool area to visit. I’d love to spend more time in the mountains next time I go back to Japan. There was a lot of snow around and many of the trails weren’t open when we were there in April. You can also stay in one […]

This is the Golden Temple in Amritsar.  Amritsar is a cool town in the Punjab, not far from the India-Pakistan border.  I’d always wanted to visit the Golden Temple. Fortunately, it’s one of those places that ended up being far more wonderful than I had imagined. I loved wandering around this place. You can hear music and people praying. It’s […]