Super lazy unmotivated creature of Sloth

I haven't really traveled in awhile, and even when I did, I really just didn't feel like picking up my camera at any point.

And its not that there would have been nothing to take a picture of, it's just a general feeling of apathy recently.  Like I am just auto piloting along with no real highs or lows, just a general consistent flow of things.

I am trying to snap out of that... but it's not easy when your social contact is so heavily limited to Facebook or a handful of people.

I visited London for a Star Trek convention which was really fun and had my picture taken with the Next Generation crew (well most of them).
Somewhere back in time a very young Abigail would be astounded by that.

And yet jaded slightly empty feeling Abigail just floated through that moment as well.

In Sydney I would have considered myself an extrovert easily, I loved to be the center of attention and was constantly talking to new people.  And now I rarely talk to anyone unless there is some special need for it.
I don't honestly know which method is better, but I have a feeling I was happier when I was an extrovert and that being away from the source of so much amusement has not done anything good for my head.

All of the amazing moments, beautiful places, and once in a lifetime things I have done these past 2.5 years are great.  They are.  But they're not as great as regular hugs and conversations with people that actually MEAN something.

Anyway... this is my one emo post about this.  Just to vent.  And to apologize for those that expect more posts and I have not provided for.

Peace out kids.

Kyoto, Japan

In June I visited Japan for a work trip, and thankfully managed to have one day in Kyoto for some sightseeing.  Normally on work trips I might see the inside of a mall or video arcade for a few hours so it was really a treat to be taken around a series of temples by some of my Japanese colleagues.

So here we go... lets see how much of this I can remember, and how much Wikipedia can help pad out my storytelling.

Our first stop in Kyoto was a really nice tofu restaurant called Nanzenji Junsei, which is nearby Nanzenji Temple.  I will freely admit that I am not a massive fan of tofu normally speaking but this place made some truly amazing stuff.  I highly recommend their baked tofu.  And just because its such a fancy place they even had their own Koi pond.  Pretty right?

It feels odd to me to be starting a blog entry with pictures from a restaurant, but the place was just so pretty and traditional that I took a lot of pictures there haha.

So after a tasty lunch we first visited Nanzenji Temple, built in 1264 by Emperor Kameyama, and its site was selected because it was the Emperor's favorite place for natural beauty.
After some time the Emperor became a monk following the faith of chief priest Daiminkokushi, and so he donated his villa as a Zen temple in 1291.  (forgive the laziness I am literally copying this from the tourist pamphlet I found in my suitcase... that's what passes as research today, checking a suitcase)

In Kyoto there is a system for five great temples (Kyoto Gozan), this temple is not one of those five, instead it presides over them.  And it has since its establishment. In 1386 a new system was declared with Nanzenji at the top in its own category as "First Temple of The Land"

 These photos are at the Hattō, which is basically one of the gates.

And this very dark room was inside the Hōjō, I think

After that we went to visit a little more cheerful shrine, which also acts as a very busy marketplace and social hot spot.... this is the Fushimi Inari Shrine, which is the head shrine of Inari the kami (spirit) of foxes. Inari specifically encourages agriculture, industry, general prosperity and success.  And was the patron for sword-smiths and merchants.

This place was really vast and basically covers most of a mountain, so I thought I should include a map for your perusal.

Here you can see a Torii, these are a type of gate designed to signify that you are crossing into a sacred space.

So then why here are there lots of these gates? This is common to Inari shrines because people who have been successful in their life like to donate a Torii to thank Inari.  The name of the donator is normally inscribed on the Torii.

Once you walk through several hundred of these gates you arrive at the Inner Shrine, here you can receive various blessings, try to win wishes and there are some merchants around.

We did not explore the whole shrine since it is basically an entire mountain and we were running out of time, so then we drove to the Kinkaku-ji (Temple of the Golden Pavilion), which has the official name Rokuon-ji (Deer Garden Temple)... but I think people are just excited about the Golden Pavilion so they call it that ;)

And so they should be look how pretty that thing is!

Interesting thing about the pavilion is that it actually mixes three different architectural styles for each level: shinden, samurai and zen.

Around the pavilion are of course beautiful gardens, and a really nice walk around the pond.

And of course many opportunities to try to have a wish fulfilled (if you can aim a Japanese coin at a bowl, this may be a new career path for beer pong players)

By this stage in the day I was just taking pictures of anything pretty or hilarious... as evidenced below.

I honestly have no idea what my next post will be.... maybe I will see how many photos of a Star Trek convention I can get ;)
Update: the answer to that was about three..... and a serious hangover.


Further reading:
Nanzenji Junsei (great tofu)
Nanzenji Temple
Fushimi Inari Shrine
Torii
Inari Ōkami
Kinkaku-ji



This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial license.

Buen Retiro Park - Madrid, Spain

In June I visited Madrid just for a few days as part of a work trip, unfortunately I didn't get a lot of time to see the sights.  So the one evening I had free I checked TripAdvisor (as I usually do when I only have a few hours for tourism) and settled on Retiro Park.

Sadly I only had my phone for pictures....sorry guys.

This place is breathtaking, its super energetic even approaching dusk, there is tonnes to do and see and it stretches 1.4 square kilometers.  Though the park had existed for some time already in 1561 it was redesigned to have its distinctive avenues of trees and given a more structured layout.

Beautiful gardens and ponds are basically just scattered all over the place.

The above was some type of public forum type space, this lady was performing something for a crowd that came and went as they felt like it.

I should have actually gotten a closer photo of this small lake, it was SO beautiful.

Random museums and things just scattered around the park of course, as they should be.

Oh my god The Crystal Palace, this is one of the weirdest things I have come across.
Built in 1887 by Ricardo Velázquez Bosco, it was originally designed to house a collection of plants from the Philippines as part of the General Exposition of the Philippine Islands held that year.

Now it is primarily used for various exhibitions... so imagine this if you can a wide eyed tourist Abigail wandering around a park, sees a sign for a crystal palace... and finds this weird looking building.

With ducks... And then decides to take a closer look because she can't really decide what this thing is for.

By random chance, an exhibition is currently happening so she goes inside.... what is the exhibition?
Its just a bunch of chairs.... and books.....
Congratulations you have just entered the Splendide Hotel exhibition, which is taken from a Rimbaud poem "And the Splendide Hotel was built in the chaos of ice and night of the Pole"

So what does it do? (from the pamphlet which I HAD to take just to decipher this mystery)

"several rocking chairs surrounded by books, inviting visitors to sit down and transport themselves to the worlds hidden inside the literary selection that the French artist has made for this occasion.  Authors like the Philippine Jose Rizal, Dostoyevsky, Ruben Dario, H.G Wells and Vila-Matas become companions on the voyage in time that Gonzales-Foerster encourages us to share"

It was very artistic I am sure, but also quite unnerving.

Cute pathways randomly appear throughout the park leading to yet more secret treasures, it really felt like everywhere I went was a complete theme change or another amazing curiosity.

Even the trees don't care what is expected of them.

I know this blog entry is not much, but I am actually heading back to Madrid next month so I will try to get some better pictures and maybe some more locations since I will likely be there for a week or so.

I will also post my Kyoto entry during this week I think....

Much love! Abigail

Further reading:
Retiro Park
Crystal Palace


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial license.