Antoni Gaudi is my home boy.  In all of our travels, in all the buildings we've seen, nothing speaks to me like his buildings.  I'm not alone of course, and I realize that it is almost pedestrian to proclaim a love for his work, but man is it fascinating.  

In a lot of ways, Gaudi has become THE symbol of Barcelona. His buildings and structures are the main feature of almost all of Barcelona's tourist souvenirs - and well deserved in my opinion.

What I value so much about his work is sheer originality.  His work has a unique flair and nature-inspired look that is all his own.  Even a century after most of his work was designed, it seems timeless, as if it still looks like some vision of a more beautiful future.  It leaves me quite simply, inspired.  Here are some photos from what we called "Gaudi Day" - the day we dedicated to exploring his creations in Barcelona. Hint: it requires more than a day.

His crowning acheivement (though left unfinished) is the La Sagrada Familia, a church...  This photo provides further proof thati it is impossible to take a picture in a city wihtout including at leasr one construction crane.

 This is the ineteriour, not finished by a long shot.  Construction was started in 1882 and we heard a possible date for completion is 2025. 

 Park Guell is like walking around in a hallucination.  It was supposed to be a neighborhood is 60 houses designed by Gaudi, but only two were completed - his time was focused on the Sagrada Familia (above).

He also desinged a number of residences around the city. This is Casa Batllo...

Lately it's been seeming like things are flying by so fast that if you don't stop and document them, they just fly away. With this post, the doucmentation is going to have to be mostly pictures, as it represents a few days.  Enjoy...

Kamikochi Japan is a tiny village in the Alps with expensive lodging ($200 per night) and some of the best scenery in Japan.  Despite rain, we really enjoyed the natural beauty.

 Mt. Yakedake:

 The Azusa River:

 From Kamikochi, we spent a couple of nights in Matsumoto, where it rained a little more.  This caption should read "Damn you rain!!!"

 Alas, Matsumoto has a stunning castle:

 We took a day trip to a town called Hotaka, where you can rent a bike...

 ...ride across picturesque rice patties...

To Japan's largest wasabi farm:

 To end this session, we went to Himeji Castle, one of Japan's most famous sites, and a UNSECO World Heritage site.  We happened to arrive on a beautiful day that also corresponded with the colorful Matsuri Yatai Festival.

 These guys were all wearing shoes "tabis" like this:

 But we really came for the castle:

 And it's original architecture.

 And views for miles...see the festival below?

 And then we went to Osaka, where we'll be for a while as we explore Kyoto, Nara, etc.

I don't think I'm genetically inclined to remember all the names of these Japanese towns.  They all have four syllables and seems to all begin or end in yama (which makes sense as "yama" means mountains and we're in the Japanese Alps).  No matter though, what I will remember is the beauty of these places.

Unfortunately, Mother Nature has not been kind of late. In the past week we've seen the sun on one day.  Other than that, it has been rather dreary with occasional rain. On the other hand, it has been abour 65(f) degrees- which is simply luxurious compared to SE Asia.

 We talked about some of these places, but didn't get to provide many pictures, so here is a load of pictures from the last week or so...Oh, and a big thanks to TwinF member (and long-time friend) Kai for pointing us in the right direction.

My favorite small town so far has been Tsuwano, where we stayed in the ryokan. Here's the town from above:

 The view above is from a hike we did up the Tsuwano Castle ruins- from about 1500AD. 

 Here's Sachi on the ruins:

 I got to ride in this little bike thing called an Anttcycle.  It's pedal powered with a little extra juice from solar power.  Very cool, but I need an XL.

 Tsuwano has a ton of these types of scenes too.  I keep trying to find a picture that captures, to me at least, the essence of traditional Japanese style.

 We're on trains a lot and it's fun and quite entertaining.  Not once has a train been more than one minute late.

Some of the trains have been around a while.

Sachi's not sad, just tired.

Kanazawa was next.  We really liked Kanazawa- it was very kind to tourists with good maps everywhere and a great overall experience- you can tell they are trying to become a tourist destination. The city has the most amazing train station exterior I've seen. OK, maybe there were two days of sun.

 Kanazawa's main attraction is Kenrokuen Gardens.  It may have been that we don't "get" Japanese gardens. This one is nice and it may have been a bad time of year, but we were a little let down. The Kenrokuen Garden is rated as a top-3 garden in Japan.  Still nice, but not what we expected.

 Updated:  I wanted to say a little more about the Japanese gardens. I'd say that we do "get" most gardens, but the Kenrokuen was different than we expected.  It is known as the "Garden of Six Attributes", which are: seclusion, antiquity, spaciousness, human ingenuity, water and scenic views.  The one attribute that seems to get in the way for us is human ingenuity.  All over Kenrokuen, trees are being propped up by braces- so much so that you can't appreciate the trees for the braces in the way:

The bracing is an ancient practice and is particularly useful in Kanazawa where it snows heavily.  However, from my western and amateur perspective, the bracing is obtrusive and takes away too much of the natural beauty of the scenery and trees. But that's just me.

Rudyard Kipling was said to have facetiously suggested that Japan should be put under a glass case as it is too pretty to be part of the real world.  Now, about 100 years later, I feel the same about what I’ve seen of Japan- it seems too good to be true.

Throughout our journey, I’ve struggled with the authenticity of the tourist experience.  In so many places the experience of the tourists seems manufactured with cultural dress, performances and practices being on display with the tourist dollar front-of-mind.  As such, I’ve become a little cynical about the tourist experience in places like India’s Golden Triangle, where it ‘s obvious that the essence of the true culture is sometimes being abstracted and displayed in a way that cheapens and demeans it to a point that it becomes unreal or inauthentic.

In contrast, the daily experience in Japan serves as a full helping of culture that is free from the pretense of purely tourist displays.  For example, we are staying in a district of Tokyo called Monzen Nakacho which is far from the tourist trail and offers a true-to-life view of daily life in Japan- a view that, to me, seems authentically real but still unreal in a too-good-to-be-true sort of way. 

Just a block from our hotel is a street that leads to a beautiful Buddhist temple. Along this street are authentic Japanese restaurants and shops filled with Japanese locals, slurping their noodles and drinking their tea just as they do every day.  The street itself is stunning in it’s cleanliness and style, as if someone set out to create the quintessential Japanese street scene, complete with lanterns, cherry trees, friendly people and noodle shop owners rolling noodles from scratch right there on display. 

What is most striking to me is that this scene is, without a doubt, the real thing.  Tourists were not considered when this street became a reality.  It is simply a random street in a nice neighborhood of locals that came to being in an authentically Japanese way. 

Each evening when we go out, we invariably see women and sometimes men wearing the traditional kimono.  Like the shops above, these folks are not thinking of tourists, or making money, or anything but what they feel is the proper attire for their evening out. To the tourists, this is a treat- to see such an authentic and truly beautiful expression of culture in daily life. 

We’ve witnessed authentic local culture in many places and I don’t mean to sound like authenticity is hard to find.  In Tokyo though, it seems to take on a new level of uniqueness and in a environment that is perfectly clean and extremely well-cared for- and that is a big difference.

It’s no wonder I have a crush on Tokyo.  I"m excited to get out of the city and experience more of Japan.