by Katrine Sivertsen | May 31, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
May was a non-travel month. We moved back into our house. Our home. Did some arts and crafts. Attended a funeral. Had a friend visit for a weekend from Oslo and go for afternoon tea and dinner. Her new boyfriend was introduced. Contemplated life and love. Did some pet... by Katrine Sivertsen | Apr 25, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
Four very standard British days in the capital of the UK, staying at, you guessed it, The Standard. The first night took us to a lecture at the Royal Institution on Paranormal activity by Chris French. Naturally, all experiments that were done debunked the myths about... by Katrine Sivertsen | Apr 21, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
It was time to spend some time back in Stavanger with these activities: Saying hello to our tenant, Ms. Spider. Café visit. Stopping by the office to eat cake and say goodbye to a colleague on his last day. Change tires on the car (not personally, “vi har folk... 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Apr 12, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
A prolonged Easter was celebrated with family in our cabin in the mountains. 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Mar 24, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
Back home, my first order of business was to say hi to my little rascals. 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Mar 23, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
We savored our last authentic Japanese breakfast and strolled over to the terminal. In the airplane we cozied up in our seats with all the SAS amenities for the 14 hour flight to Copenhagen. For the first time ever I flew over the North Pole as we took the Polar route... 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Mar 22, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
Switching breakfast for lunch, we checked out and ate late before ubering to the Okinawa airport. Bye bye Okinawa! In the evening we were at the Hotel villa fontaine premier at Haneda airport. Unfortunately after sunset, so we missed the views of Mount Fuji 🗻 (yes, it... 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Mar 21, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
Finally a day with no plans. At least for me. Terry went into Naha again to do some more shopping. I stayed by the pool at the hotel. Although there’s no summer heat it’s still warm in the sun, and I read/napped on a sun bed. Later on I checked out the indoor... 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Mar 20, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
Another long bus ride (never forget an international license when hiring a car in Japan) took us to the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium. It houses an over 8 m long whale shark and many huge manta rays plus many sea mammals and fish. It’s one of the largest aquariums in the... 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Mar 19, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
Naha is close to the airport and more than an hour with bus from the hotel and serves as the Okinawa administrative center. During the day here I visited Fukushuen Chinese garden with its koi ponds and Chinese architecture and waterfalls. Afterwards, I stopped at the... 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Mar 18, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
Our first day without any big plans. The sun was out and there was a slight breeze, so after a big Japanese set breakfast including Okinawa doughnuts, we sat on the beach for a while. The weather wasn’t quite warm enough for swimming but the sun was hot enough to... 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Mar 17, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
Okinawa, the group of islands south of Japan, is our final destination on our 4 week trip. It took about 2 hours to fly here from Kansai airport. Kansai airport is fascinating in itself, built on a manmade island in the middle of the sea and which is now sinking. Our... 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Mar 16, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
One last day in Osaka and crammed in three more things. First off, Osaka castle. If you’re watching the Shogun series, this is the castle they refer to (although in the old 80’s Shogun series they filmed at Himeji castle instead). Two big moats surround the castle and... 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Mar 15, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
Early morning in Koyasan we attended the Buddhist prayers at 6:00. Still freezing cold. There is no way we could manage the ascetic life of a monk. We bought a sanbucan, a citrus from this region, previously reserved only for samurai and feudal lords. It did make us... 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Mar 14, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
South of Osaka lies Koyasan in the mountains. It’s the center of Shingon Buddhism and there’s a temple on every corner, literally. Our lodging for the night was Fukuchiin temple. The journey there was via train, a very steep cable car / funicular, and then bus (the... 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Mar 13, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
All day at universal studios. We had to get up early in the morning to get in line before they opened because apparently they open an hour or more BEFORE the official opening time. Huh? Also the published wait times said up to 240 minutes of waiting, but when you got... 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Mar 12, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
Off we go exploring Osaka, and the first thing we encounter is “Americamura” or the American neighborhood with youngster fashion. I finally found jeans that fit me… at the Levi’s store. But! They were made in Japan of Japanese fabric, plus I had my name embroidered in... 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Mar 11, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
Leaving Hiroshima behind, Osaka is our last big stop on mainland Japan. Finding our way was a bit of a challenge since there is an entire town under the main train station creating a third dimension of floors when navigating by google maps. We walked through a covered... 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Mar 10, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
Outside Hiroshima is the island of Miyajima, one of the most scenic spots in Japan. I had a special interest in visiting because, just like in Nara, there are free roaming wild deer on the island that walk in the streets. The island is also famous for oysters, so I... 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Mar 9, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
Hiroshima was a must on our list over places to visit in Japan, so today we spent our time walking through the Peace Memorial Park reading about the atrocities of the Second World War and its end in Japan. The park is situated a block away from the hypocenter, and... 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Mar 8, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
Rushing off in the morning, we managed to secure seats to a Kabuki theater performance, a 400 year old and traditional Japanese art form combining music and stylized acting while wearing very heavy stage makeup. It was a comedic “suicide” play (!). More traditions... 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Mar 7, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
So many animals to see today, and all in the wild. The monkeys at Arashiyama were cheeky as expected, and there were hundreds of them. A short distance away is the tall and dense Arashiyama Bamboo forest with many couples taking pictures in kimonos. An hour’s train... 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Mar 6, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
Our day started with a private guided tour with Yuka. She took us to several temples and shrines, and explained all the artifacts and history. A cute temple had lots of colorful balls. They represented monkeys tied together on their hands and feet symbolizing... 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Mar 5, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
Since Takayama has so many sake breweries, we took the time to stroll in the old street and visit a couple before departing the town. Kyoto was our next stop, the cultural capital of Japan, and also its old capital. Our guide informed us that Tokyo in fact means “New... 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Mar 4, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
Our breakfast at the ryokan was up to par with their dinner. Can’t say I miss bread or cereal. We made time for a stop at the onsen in the morning too. I tried another one right next door that was even prettier. No pictures allowed naturally, but you can see them... 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Mar 3, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
Before leaving Kanazawa we strolled through the castle and the Kenrokuen garden. We were lucky enough to get a free private guided tour of the garden, and made it just in time for a tea ceremony. In the evening we arrived in Takayama and checked in to a traditional... 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Mar 2, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
Shinkansen is the superexpress train in Japan with speeds up to 320 km/h, and we took our first longer trip on one of these lines up to Kanazawa today. Our hotel, Uan, is so sleek and artsy, and we had to try on the Japanese pyjamas, or yukatas, with belts and wooden... 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Mar 1, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
The island of Odaiba was on our plan today. On our way there we stopped at Tsukiji fish market with lots of tiny shops and vendors selling fish, meat, tea, and more. (For those of you who watched “Jiro dreams of sushi”, the market was featured in it). Next stop was... 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Feb 29, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
Today we went on an excursion to Nikko, 2 hours north of Tokyo. Nikko has UNESCO listed shrines and temples, of which there are maaaany. We went to the biggest, and possibly most ornate, shrine in Japan, Toshogu shrine. It is also famous for its sleeping cat sculpture... 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Feb 28, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
Another small day trip out of Tokyo today to the coastal town of Yokohama. We visited our first (and probably only) museum dedicated to cup noodles. They were compared to such inventions as the airplane and telephone, so the Japanese revere cup noodles and ramen more...