After watching the sumo wrestler’s training session, we visited the Sumida Aquarium in Oshiage, located on the 5th and 6th floor of the Tokyo Skytree. We almost skipped this aquarium as we couldn’t find the entry from inside the Skytree building. It turns out you can only enter from an outside courtyard, but there were […]
Tokyo 2 – Tuna Auction and Fish Market
A fun part of traveling is finding great places to eat. We really enjoyed our meals in Tokyo, not only for its freshness in ingredients, but also for the unique types of food. For one birthday meal, Burt selected eel for lunch. Then for another meal, we were shown some of the best sushi restaurants […]
Tokyo 1 – Sumo, Old Town, Skyline
Enroute to India, there was a one stop with an 18-hour layover in Tokyo going across the Pacific Ocean, or a multi-stop route from HNL-LAX-JFK-DEL across the Atlantic Ocean. Each route took more than 30 hours. Since it was Burt’s birthday, we decided to celebrate by laying over and exploring Tokyo. We’ve fallen in love […]
Hawaii 2 – Volcanoes and Stargazing
Sunset at Mauna Kea, across the road from the Visitor’s Center. At 9200 feet, the cloud layer is below us, so you often can get a clear view of the sun setting. The road to the summit was closed again (this was our second attempt at going there), so we settled with this view. View […]
Hawaii 1 – Celebration and Hilo
Sunset at the Lava Lava Beach Club in Waikoloa Village, Hawaii (above). The last time we were on the Big Island was over 50 years ago, so it was interesting to see the changes. There were a lot more resort communities and restaurants. Saddle Road, formerly a dirt road connecting Kailua-Kona with Hilo has transformed […]
New Zealand 9 — Auckland and New Year’s Eve
This year we celebrated New Year’s Eve in Auckland at the iconic Sky Tower, in the rain. The 328 meter high tower lighting kept changing colors during the hour preceding midnight. Then there was the 10-second countdown. When we reached 2024, the cold fireworks emerged from the tower with a 5 minute spectacle of fireworks […]
New Zealand 9 — WĒTĀ Special Effects
Next doort to the iconic Sky Tower is the Wētā Workshop, an award-winning company (with 5 Oscars) known for creating special effects and props for movies and television as well as developing video games. Their special effects were used to create various movie sets in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The […]
New Zealand 7 — Ruakuri Glow Worms Cave
Waitomo Caves is just an hour south of Hobbiton. Three caves make up the Waitomo caves network, and Ruakuri Cave is the only one where photography is allowed. These caves are famous for their abundance of glow worms, stunning stalactite and stalagmite formations and an underground river. Each cave has its unique features. In Waitomo […]
New Zealand 6 — Hobbiton and Te Papa Museum
Whenever we hear New Zealand, certain images, including sheep, wine, and Middle Earth (since the release of movies ‘The Hobbit’ and “The Lord of the Rings”) automatically come to mind. We are fans of the Hobbit movies, so we went to Middle Earth to see where Bilbo, Gandalf, and Gollum lived on the Hobbiton movie […]
New Zealand 5 – Christchurch 2 & Beyond
Our last supper in Christchurch was at Astro Lounge, a vintage beer garden, which was a 5-minute walk from our hotel in pouring rain. The poster (lower-right) is from one of Burt’s favorite Sci-Fi characters (Dr. Who). It rained most of the time we were in New Zealand, even though we were starting summer. The […]
