Staycationing, part 1

I'm spending my summer vacation in Tokyo this year. Actually, I can't remember the last time I had more than a 3-day weekend and didn't leave town.

Partly because I exhausted my travel budget during my trip to the States in June and partly for other reasons, I'm finding ways to explore the city where I live this year. Bummer that it's too hot for me to feel like going out much, but nonetheless I'll still try to make the most of my time off.

Spent the first day of my holiday (Thursday) having lunch with a friend and then exploring an exhibition of Japanese lanterns. The ticket was over-priced, but I got some nice pictures...

The complex where the exhibition was held is a very modern and rather enormous structure, but with one wing that appears to be much older. This is the area where they displayed the lanterns. Creaky, wooden floors juxtaposed with musty-smelling tatami mat rooms. But beautiful: the walls, ceiling, and even the elevator doors were gorgeously decorated.

Japanese fans painted on the ceilings of the hallways

Elevator doors...

I loved even the window panes...

Each room had different styles of paper lanterns (akari) or wind chimes (fūrin- lit. "wind bells").

For me it was thrilling to walk through the halls of that old building and see the ways that Japanese artists have made even the smallest and simplest of things beautiful. They're really good at that. :)

More summer adventures to come...

FYI:

Thanks, @LikesBlueBoots.

Neighborhood rooftops

Gratuitous pictures of my neighborhood.  Because I'll never get tired of looking at these rooftops, and we get some pretty good sunsets:

 

Welcome to the Midwest

How can this much time have already passed since I got back from my trip?!

My (nearly) two weeks of travel in the US were...busy. But so, so enjoyable. I'm glad I took the opportunity to spend some time in Chicago- I loved it there!

Anyways.

I made sure to take a lot of pictures, but by the time we got back to our hotel most nights I was just too tired to feel like organizing photos and writing a post. The words "write blog" have been on my to-do list for quite some time now.

And so, if you'll just step this way, we'll begin our "Tour of 2 Midwestern Cities in One Blog Post!"

After three days in Portland, my mom and I flew into Chicago, picked up our rental car, and less than two hours later were on our way to Indianapolis.  I needed to go there to attend a 3-day seminar for my graduate program.  Didn't get to do too much sightseeing, but my mom did. She said she had a great time, but I also didn't miss out on much. :)

Just a few highlights:

White River State Park

White River

Mural downtown

And then four days later...a drive back to Chicago. Enjoyed some gorgeous clouds from the car window.

We spent three days in Chicago. Day 1 included a quick trip to Wrigley Field, my first Chicago-style pizza, and a downpour with hail (and us without an umbrella...):

It was deee-lish!

Day 2 started off with a walk around the neighborhood and then down to Navy Pier, an architecture tour, and then a brief rest in the hotel before dinner with a family friend.

Down the street from our hotel (click on the photo for more info)

View from the top of the Ferris Wheel at Navy Pier

Architecture tour via ferry boat along the Chicago River, Trump Tower in the center

Marina City, aka the "Corn Cob Towers"

Marina City, aka the "Corn Cob Towers"

Willis Tower (or as I will always know it, Sears Tower) behind the
311 South Wacker Drive skyscraper

The Carbide & Carbon Bldg (gold top) was one of my favorites, allegedly designed
to resemble a champagne bottle.

Day 3 started off at the "Bean" (the nickname given to the "Cloud Gate" sculpture in Millenium Park), then the Art Institute of Chicago, followed by a stroll around the park to enjoy the blue sky before it rained. Topped off the evening with a trip to John Hancock Center to watch the sunset and enjoy breathtaking views of the city from the 94th floor:

The "Bean"

"European Art before 1900" wing of the Art Institute of Chicago

Buckingham Fountain

Sailboats in Lake Michigan

Our hotel...

View of Lake Michigan and Lake Shore Drive from John Hancock Center

We arrived just 10 minutes before sunset. Perfect timing!

And finally, nothing like a delicious breakfast @ Yolk on the way to the airport:

And that concludes our tour. The only thing I regret not taking a picture of was a shot of all the brick homes.  Loved them.  Guess I'll have to save that for next time, though.

So long, Chicago! I hope we meet again someday...

Portland to Chicago from the air

Photos taken somewhere over...

...Las Vegas

...Nevada / Utah (?)

...Utah

...Utah

...the Colorado Rocky Mountains

...Nebraska

...Iowa

...Chicago

...Lake Michigan

Killing time in Seattle

I made it all the way back to the US! Not quite to my first destination, though. I'm halfway into my 4.5 hour layover in Seattle on the way back to PDX.

Glad to have a seat at a counter with an outlet for PCs, not to mention free wi-fi. And I should be thankful that I'm not on the flight to San Jose leaving from the same gate.  Their flight is delayed because the mechanic has to figure out which part of the plane is having mechanical trouble...

So anyway. No better time to catch up on some old blog posts, right?

How about ballerinas and vacuums?

All the way back in early April I was given tickets to a ballet performance by a man from my church who runs the ballet company.  Every year around Easter they do a performance that includes more traditional, classical music as well as a dramatization of the life of Christ.  Went last year and loved it, and this year I was equally thrilled to go again.

(The ballet was before the purchase of my new camera, though, so the quality isn't super...)

My favorite shot of the night...

They brought out the kids' class

The Last Supper

And now, for the vacuums.

(How's that for a transition?)

A couple of months ago they opened up a fancy-schmancy Dyson store in the high-end retail district near the school where I teach. True to Japanese fashion, they did it big.

I went out to get a sandwich one night while they were making some final adjustments to all of their installations prior to opening.  When I crossed the street on the way to the cafe, there were only about 7-8 staff standing outside.  Ten minutes later, they had attracted quite a crowd:

Let me remind you, this is for a vacuum store.  And one that hasn't even opened yet. You would think it was a celebrity or something.

But naturally I had to stop and take a picture of the spectacle.

Walking by again a couple of days after they'd opened, I saw that they had made some additional "enhancements". My personal favorite: the vacuum statues on either side of the entrance.

I still laugh every time I see them. They're hilarious.

Ok, I've officially killed 30 minutes. And in case you were interested, the San Jose people are still stuck here.  Let's hope I have a little bit better luck than they do...