by Terry Thorpe | Mar 5, 2024 | Blog, Terry
After another delicious japanese breakfast (I asked our waitress what she had for breakfast that day and she replied toast, so maybe not everyone has quite the same start to their day) we headed out to explore the o K d town and visit the sake brewery’s we... 
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 Terry Thorpe | Mar 4, 2024 | Blog, Terry
We both got a surprisingly good night’s sleep and enjoyed a fabulous traditional breakfast in our JP PJ’s before embarking on a day-trip to the picturesque village of Shirikawa-go. The snow helped to give the whole place an enchanting, fairytale feeling.... 
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 Terry Thorpe | Mar 3, 2024 | Blog, Terry
We started the morning exploring Kanaxawa Castle and the nearby gardens of Koraku-en. We took advantage of the free guide who was great, explaining the castle exterior and elements of the garden, such as the animal shaped trees, special lanterns, bridges and even... 
by Terry Thorpe | Mar 2, 2024 | Blog, Terry
The super sleek bullet train, or Shinkansen as they’re known over here, is an insanely aerodynamic marvel of Japanese engineering and efficency and today we were excited to board one for the first time to take us to our next destination Kanazawa. We crossed... 
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 Terry Thorpe | Mar 1, 2024 | Blog, Terry
We started the day by visiting Tjuijiki fish market and sampling teas, dashi, all manner of seafood and Japanese culinary curiosities. I bought myself some delicious smoked, cured squid and we got some dashi to take home as well as a few light seafood bites and a huge... 
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 Terry Thorpe | Feb 29, 2024 | Blog, Terry
We took the bullet train to Nikko to marvel St the shrine complex of three important Shogun of Japanese history. The most important/venerated of whom was Tokugawa Leyasu who founded the Tokugawa Shogunate. The last Shogun based ruling power. The shrine was incredible,... 
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... 
by Terry Thorpe | Feb 28, 2024 | Blog, Terry
We visited the Nissan HQ to marvel at some motors. Then we spent an hour or two in the totally bonkers Noodle Museum before wandering through Chinatown and back to Tokyo to prepare for our Omakase dining experience. Fun fact: The pot noodle was unleashed on the world... 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Feb 27, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
We did so much today! But you kind of have to because there’s so much to cover, it’s impossible to do everything. Our morning was spent on a traditional Japanese cooking course where we cooked, among other things, wagyu meat (and ate it). A train ride away we found... 
by Terry Thorpe | Feb 27, 2024 | Blog, Terry
We started the day with a cooking class featuring Wagyu and traditional Japanese dishes. It was great fun, educational and tasty and we also met some nice people who shared some tips and recommendations (mostly bar related). We also learned the proper way to serve... 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Feb 26, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
Akihabara was our first stop. This area is famous for lots of character shops, electronics and arcades. We tried a couple of retro games, like dance dance revolution. Asakusa was next up, with the lots of little stores, and we visited the samurai and ninja museum and... 
by Terry Thorpe | Feb 26, 2024 | Blog, Terry
We ventured out after a long lie and stumbled over a lovely Udon (noodle) restaurant which was delicious and very cheap. The standing clientel was a bit different and we did our very best to slurp our noodles like the locals. Our next destination was Akihabara a mecca... 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Feb 25, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
Seizo, our companion for the day, took us crisscrossing the city today. First to Meiji shrine, then to the shopping area, Asakusa, and its Buddhist temple, Sensoji. He taught us the rituals to clean hands and mouth, and offer a 5 yen coin for luck and bow. And... 
by Terry Thorpe | Feb 25, 2024 | Blog, Terry
After a nice breakfast at the hotel we met Seizo who would be our guide to Tokyo for the first half of the day. Seizo took us to the imperial Palace while telling us about the role of the emperor and his wife and Japanese culture. Next stop was the Meiji shrine where... 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Feb 24, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
The downside of arriving early in the morning is that hotel checkin is in the afternoon, so our tired faces and sweaty bodies spent the first hours exploring the nearby neighborhoods which included the imperial palace east gardens and Tokyo station. The gardens are... 
by Terry Thorpe | Feb 24, 2024 | Blog, Terry
The flight to Tokyo went better than expected, a couple of movies, a few drinks and a beauty treatment or two later and we were finally in the land of the rising Sun. Jet lagged, but happy and excited to see what Japan held in store. We travelled in style to our... 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Feb 23, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
Early, early in the morning we took off to Copenhagen with the first flight from Sola, and continued on to Tokyo on a 13 hour flight. A meal, a few movies, a moisturizing mask (both of us), and forty winks later, it was already Saturday and we were welcomed to Japan... 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Feb 22, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
Very last day to get ready for Japan. Everything is packed and the cats have received a last kiss. Except the black flash, who still sits patiently and hisses under the stairs. 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Feb 21, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
Trying to switch to Tokyo time has been a complete failure, waking up closer to noon the last few days… We went into town after a rummage through our house to find things for our travels. Terry’s son and girlfriend (his son’s, Terry doesn’t have an extra girlfriend as... by Katrine Sivertsen | Feb 20, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
Another night at the theater, this time at Rogaland theater at the play “Smokefall” or “Tåkefall”. I understood that there was some symbolism at play but I have to admit that it did go over my head a bit. However, the scene with two twin brothers fighting inside the... by Katrine Sivertsen | Feb 19, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
Riksteatret is in town (or at least in Sandnes) with “Bonnie and Clyde”. I swooped a ticket, especially curious about seeing the Farmen winner in the flesh doing what he does best. The show was good, more music focused than story focused. My favorite was the burlesque... 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Feb 18, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
Spending (too much?) time with my parents while in Norway has led to watching many more tv programs, and among them are Farmen. Even though my parents left for the cabin today, I still felt compelled to watch the finale of Farmen today. It was fun to see that the... 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Feb 17, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
Another day of literature and lectures starting with a talk on the Norwegian author Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson. It was held by one of the professors I had during my Nordic literature study at the University of Bergen last year, which was what drew my attention. He was also... by Katrine Sivertsen | Feb 16, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
http://adriatico-stavanger.com (I doubt this blog has a large enough audience for anyone to care about unmarked advertising – and if anyone does, it’s now on the record that I’ve received a free apple juice at Adriatico but not as compensation for mentioning the... 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Feb 15, 2024 | Blog, Katrine
This week, the library is celebrating that it is 175 years since the famous Stavanger author, Alexander Kielland, was born. The week is filled with lectures and activities with tighter or looser ties to Kielland. I attended a talk by Monica Isakstuen. I read one of... 