A day at the park

Last weekend, we rode our bikes to a nearby park (Tagere park) with our friends, Jodi and Jonno. It rained a bit, but we had an awesome time exploring! The park was on a bluff, and had really cool buildings that looked like castles! The park had beautiful flower gardens, a gorgeous view of the city, and so much more. We feel so lucky to be here in Himeji, and we are having such a blast going on new adventures, exploring this wonderful city!

Our Apartment

Joe and I have been in Himeji for one month, and we have really made our apartment feel like home. When we arrived we had the furniture, linens, kitchen items, and all the micellaneous stuff we needed. However, it felt very brown and dull (not to mention the curtains were a pepto bismo pink). So, we took down the curtains, went to the 100 yen store, and gave our apartment color and style!!Here is what it looks like! More pictures to come...

Himeji Castle Tour

Today, Joe and I went on a tour of the Himeji Castle. We had about 4 Japanese tour guides, and learned so much about the castle's history and structure! The castle was built with defense in mind. There are so many tactics that the men who designed and constructed the castle used to ward off the "bad guys" that just amazed us! For instance, from the outside, the castle looks like it contains 5 stories. However, once inside, you see there are six. If the "bad guy" were to invade the castle and reach the 5th floor, he would think he reached the final level. The sixth floor was built to keep the Emperor safe if that indeed did happen. Luckily, the Himeji castle was never invaded, or attacked!

Ieshima Island BBQ

On Saturday, September 22nd, Katie went with some friends to an island called Ieshima, about a 45 minute ferry ride away from Himeji, for a Japanese -style BBQ, swimming, and canoing!

When we went swimming, the water was the perfect temperature and you could see your feet and little fish swimming at the bottom. The canoing was fun, but not very "exciting". We tried to leave the little bay area, and we were out for about 5 minutes when a speed boat came up to us, and a Japanese man told us, very sternly, to return to the designated canoing area! (Of course that was all in Japanese).

The food for the BBQ was delicious! Our Japanese friends spoiled us,and cooked SOOO much food! It was all delicious! The island was beautiful! And the company kept was even better! It was a great day!

Beer Gardens and Karaoke!

After being in Japan for less than two weeks, we went to a Beer Garden on top of the Egret Center in Downtown Himeji. The food and beer were great, and the view of the Himeji Castle was even better!

After the beer gardens, we all biked over to a Karaoke place and rented a room for two hours!!! Katie was in heaven!! We hadn't been in the room for five minutes, and already there was a 20 minute wait to sing! It was amazing how many people love to get up on stage and sing!