Jun 18, 2017

Birthday Weekend


And I’ve already fallen way behind on blogging, so… time to play catch up.

My birthday was already almost two months ago, and the Boy came down to Kyoto the weekend before (22nd-23rd) to help me celebrate. He actually took a train in after work that Friday night, the 21st, which happened to also be the release date for the new live-action Beauty and the Beast movie in Japan, so after he arrived we killed some time around the station before heading to the theatre to get our tickets, caramel corn, and drinks. (Pretty much the best thing about movie theatres here is the caramel corn they sell – so good!) 


The movie was enjoyable, but I think I had built up my expectations too much and the movie didn’t quite meet them lol. That’s not to say it wasn’t good – Emma Watson was the best Belle, and overall they stayed really true to the original animated film, but I still much prefer the animated version.
The next day we woke up late morning and decided to go spend the day in Nara. We took the train to Nara Station then looked around for someplace to have lunch. Afterwards we walked to Nara Park, which is famous for the semi-wild deer that live there. We bought some deer snacks and were immediately accosted for some yums. There was also an Earth Day even going on that we took a quick look through, which made me then regret eating lunch near the station because there were some really tasty-looking vegan options available… Will have to keep that in mind for next year!


We took a quick look at the famous Todaiji Temple with its giant Buddha statue inside. I think that was my third time to the temple, but it was Boy’s first. I tried to convince him to crawl through the hole-in-the-pillar, which is said to be the same size in diameter as the big Buddha’s nostril, and if you make it through without getting stuck it means you’ll live a long life. I did it once before, but since we were there on a weekend there was a line and Boy didn’t want to wait (nor did he want to try with a bunch of people watching lol) so on we went.


Before heading back to Kyoto we got some famous Daibutsu Pudding (Big Buddha Pudding), and took them to a café where we could sit down and eat them (after ordering drinks there too, of course). The pudding is seriously really, really good. The first time I tried it was around when S and I first came to Japan, I think we went to Nara during the Golden Week holiday, and each got a pudding. Just the plain custard flavor. I remember we both took a bite and at the same time we turned and looked at each other and were both like, “Oh my god… this is amazing!” We had no expectations so we were really surprised at how rich and creamy it was, haha. This time I tried the chocolate, which I think is even better than the custard. Will have to try the matcha flavor next time.
For dinner we went to Donguri, an okonomiyaki/teppanyaki chain that’s pretty famous here in Kyoto. We stuffed ourselves with more food than we should’ve, then headed home and zonked out.

Sunday we decided would be a lazy day. We slept in, and once we were up and ready we headed to the Teramachi shopping area and got a light lunch at Starbucks. I had one of their veggie wraps and the American cherry pie Frappuchino that was out at the time. 


After that we made a reservation at a cheap (but still pretty nice) massage place, and walked around killing time until our appointment. At one point, Boy had joked about getting us matching shirts (when couples wear matching outfits here it’s called “pair look”, and we usually make fun of couples we see dressed alike lol), but we ended up going to Uniqlo and getting matching shirts anyway! I don’t think he ever intended for us to wear them together at the same time, but I made him go and change in the bathroom and I changed into mine. I thought it was pretty funny but he kept saying, “Everyone is looking at us!” Later after our massage (which was so relaxing I fell asleep towards the end) and the sun started going down he used the cool weather as an excuse to put his long-sleeved shirt on over his matching shirt. XD

Before it got too late, we got dinner (I honestly can’t remember where though, at this point) and headed back to my place so boy could get his stuff and make his way back home, since it’s a little over 2 hours away on the local trains. All-in-all an eventful weekend and I was definitely spoiled. :3

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