It was almost 60 degrees today! So grateful for a lovely day.

Met a fellow traveler at the breakfast and we walked over to the local temple together for a short walk.

http://www.senso-ji.jp/

This is a busy, busy place. So neat to see it again. It’s one of the great things about Japan, that this place isn’t a tourist trap. It surely could be.

I totally just showed up at the thing I was gonna do today, and of course it was closed lol. So since it was only 11, I just moved on to something else. Luckily, this is a city of 28 million people….so there’s lots of something else.

I was looking for some lunch and saw these locals waiting in line for ramen. It was delicious. So worth waiting for.

The procedure for seeing a for-real, all -day kabuki theater production is kinda complicated for visitors. It’s made simpler by the theater owners selling standing room only tickets that you can only buy the same day, and you can just buy a ticket for one act of the play.

It was enough to just see a bit. Not speaking Japanese, you know, makes it a little harder to follow the plot. I’ve always wanted to do this kind of thing and it was cool, so….winning!

I walked up and down the fancy shopping street that was nearby. Let’s just say that I let my opportunity go by to purchase a $35,000 purse.

Fun, though, to see all the dressed up shoppers. So many cool clothes and handbags.

My feet hurt so I called it a day after that.

To my disbelief I watched an episode of Little House on the Prairie, dubbed in Japanese.

Goodnight lovelies

And it feels pretty good.

My hostel is in an alley, off an alley, off an alley.

Anyway, after a fun time finding my way…..wait, it wasn’t fun. Just a little frustrating…I’m checked in now and drinking a beer.

The flight with JAL was great. 2 solid meals, lots of movies, a great seat mate. Also I found out where the snacks were.

The neighborhood is interesting. It’s simultaneously quiet and lively, if that’s possible.

I’m looking forward tomorrow to finding the best ramen in the area. Nearby there’s a halal ramen shop. Intriguing!

Anyway, I’m exhausted and my beer is gone.

Shower and bed, finally

TTFN

Well

I got my flight times mixed up and discovered that I had an entire day to kill in Sydney!!

It got a lot easier when I found a preloaded travel card with 45 bucks on it. Now I could spend what cash I had on food and coffee. I also got to ride a ferry one more time, so that was nice.

I went to Watson’s Bay, which is a nice little neighborhood close to Bondi. There’s a coastal walk, lighthouses, yummy bakery, and old cemetery up there. I sat in the cemetary and ate an apple turnover and felt lucky to be there.

After the long bus ride back to the city, I stopped into a souvenir shop and my favorite city stop, the Customs House.

The hotel let me have a coffee and charge my phone even though I’d checked out already. That was nice of them, and finally it was time to go to the airport.

After a day of worry about Hurricane Lane, the flights went off without a hitch. Much ado about nothing, apparently. I even slept a little!

Now I’m in Portland on a bus, waiting to come home.

What now?

I need a job, and to make some money. My tooth broke in the outback and I need dental work. I want to sit on my couch and drink my coffee.

Thanks, Australia, for a great month. I met some super cool people from all over. Your coffee is on point, and the outback was everything I could have hoped for.

That’s all for now.

See you…sometime

Well, I didn’t go to the Blue Mountains today.

I got up too late to go and decided to do nothing, officially.

This only means that once I stepped out the door I had no actual destination. Just walked wherever my feet took me.

This plan usually results in a lovely morning that includes coffees and bookstores. Today was no different.

Cities can sometimes all feel the same, but this can also be ok. You can rely on a city to amuse you… if you like what cities have to offer.

And I do.

I went to the library for my sit-down because it’s warm, there’s electricity to charge my phone, and the wifi is free.

I love old money and coins, so I tried to go to the old Mint, but it’s a coffeehouse now. Boo!

Better luck was to be had at the official bank museum. They had a pretty good exhibit on the country’s paper money. I ran into some old farts in the building and they told me all about the changeover from pounds to dollars when they were kids. Interesting to hear about the changes from the horse’s mouth, as it were.

After that I just read a book at the Customs House. Again, it’s free wifi and electricity lol. Also it’s a library too.

I found a great Indian restaurant for dinner. So good.

Tomorrow I’ll kill most of a day then fly home.

See you all very soon!