spring break photo diary

Playing: Hurricane-MisterWives
Reading: Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck (Amazing book!)

Instead of heading back home over spring break, I took a trip along the East Coast with a group of friends, stopping off at Washington D.C., Baltimore, and Philadelphia. Unfortunately, I was sick for most of Washington D.C. and Baltimore. However, I really enjoyed Philadelphia. It wasn't my first time there as I've been there twice before, but I had just forgotten how beautiful Philadelphia can be. On the second day we were there, we visited the Philadelphia Art Museum and walked along the Schuylkill River Trail and wow, it was beyond stunning. The classical style of the Fairmount Water Works and museum buildings contrasted with the modern skyline is just a beautiful sight to see. Baltimore has a more subtle sense of beauty and wonderment than Philly has. Its landmarks and tourist spots aren't as well known and obvious in terms of importance to American history, but it was rare jewels like the American Visionary Art Museum that made me enjoy my time there. The AVAM felt like a collection of relics from my childhood, represented by glittering objects and animated folk art.

Picture: 1-DC War Memorial, 2-Fort McHenry, 3-AVAM, 4-Fairmount Water Works, 5-Honeygrow, 6-Meeting Kazuo Ishiguro at the Free Library, 7-Philadelphia City Hall

Japan Trip: Kyoto

Playing: She Lied to the FBI-Alkaline Trio
Reading: The Tale of Layla and Majnun by Nizami

It's been forever since I posted anything about my trip to Japan, so I apologize in advance for posting this so late. I still want to cover what I did in the countryside and in Tokyo yet I'm just covering Kyoto today. Tina and I started off our time in Kyoto around the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest and the surrounding area. We particularly liked how tranquil the forest was and it was pleasant to walk around Arashiyama itself. (May we recommend Gyatei, which offers a wide range of traditional Japanese food, for lunch?)

While walking around the forest, we stumbled upon the Nonomiya Shrine, which was surprisingly nice. It had all sorts of colorful paper cranes decorating the area and seemed like a popular stop among tourists and locals alike. From what we could tell, there seemed to be a sort of beauty pageant that took place there or a Geisha dress up sort of deal? We couldn't tell from the scarce advertisements.

What made Kyoto so beautiful is its tranquil nature scenes and all of the picture perfect locations. The Togetsu Bridge, which crosses the Katsura River, offers especially peaceful views and if you walk along the banks of the Katsura River, you can easily find a place where you could rent boats to go about the river. If you're interested in an arduous hike, you can climb up the mountain right by the Togetsu Bridge to visit a monkey park.

Kyoto is known for being the home to a lot of Japan's cultural and artistic heritage. Consequently, Tina and I went out of our way to visit every shrine we walked past, which led us to visiting Yasaka Jinja. Yasaka Jinja itself was very beautiful and I highly recommend visiting it. It sprawls over a large chunk of land and has every aspect of a shrine you could want from beautiful paper lanterns to amazing pieces of architecture. At the time we were there (mid-July) there was even a street festival being set up on one of the side streets next to it.

The main reason we found ourselves at Yasaka Jinja was because Tina and I really wanted to go to the Gion Distrit, which is known for having quite a few Geishas walking around. While we were there, we did see a Geisha. However, she was not stopping for photos and walked briskly by. I loved the older style of the buildings in this district and all of the side streets. It was rather quaint. While you're there, I recommend stopping by Saryo TSUJIRI for matcha parfaits and wandering along the Kamo River.

One of our favorite shrines that we visited was the Fushimi-Inari Shrine, which is famous for its long rows of torii gates. We liked how this shrine was decorated and how it offered multiple paths to hike along and how all the paths lead us to another shrine. We also visited Kiyomizu-dera and Kinkaku-ji, which I both highly recommend if you have the time to visit them. However, I wanted to share a few shrines that are lesser known but still worth visiting in this post. We usually walked around the areas surrounding a lot of the shrines and I feel like those alleyways and rambling streets were one of the best things about Kyoto. They hid a plethora of cute cafes and shops to stop by.

PS While you're in Kyoto, you should also take advantage of the nama yatsuhashi selection. Nama yatsuhashi is a mochi based crepe-like dessert often stuffed with red bean of fruit preserves and Kyoto is famous for it!

Japan Trip: Osaka

Playing: The World is Ugly-My  Chemical Romance
Reading: Metamorphoses by Ovid

After our day trip in Kobe, Tina and I head off to Osaka for a three day visit. We of course did the touristy stuff like visiting Osaka Castle, which is probably Osaka's most famous attraction. The garden around it is pretty and is a nice area to walk around. If you're planning on going inside the castle, know that it's more of a museum than a castle. I expected it to still be a castle like the ones I've visited in Europe, where you can see each and every room, but that's not the case.

After Osaka Castle, we took a quick trip to Kyoto so that we could experience Gion Matsuri, one of Japan's most famous festivals. Tina and I even brought yukatas all the way from America to wear to it. Highly recommend Gion Matsuri, if you're ever in Kyoto during July. It's just a lot of fun to get a taste of Japanese festival foods (Bacon wrapped onigiri, scallion/mayo pancakes, and kara-age? Yes, please!), play all of the games, and watch everyone walk by in their beautiful yukatas. Disclaimer, Tina and I don't know the three girls in the middle of the photo. We just wanted to look like we were actual, Japanese teenagers.

The next day, Tina and I met up with a friend of ours, who moved back to Japan three years ago, named Marika. We met up with Marika at America-mura to go shopping and do a round of purikura. If you ever get the chance to do purikura, you must do it. Purikura is basically a Japanese photo booth that alters your appearance by smoothing out your skin, enlarging your eyes, lengthening your legs, etc. and it's so funny to see your photos afterwards.

Although Marika visits America-mura often, she told us it's kind of a sketchy area. Consequently, we gave up our dreams of finding cheap clothes there and walked over to Namba Parks, which is an architectural masterpiece of a shopping center. You must take a walk around the winding buildings, resembling Antelope Canyon. After you're done walking through Namba Parks, sneak into the tallest office building or hotel, go to the top floor and admire Namba Parks' twisting roads and patterns from above. You won't be disappointed.

Tina's and my favorite part about Osaka was Dotonbori at night time. Everything lights up and it looks like a stereotypical snapshot of Japanese life - crowded streets, bright lights and the whole deal. Not only that, but there are tons of great places to eat at and plenty of arcades to keep you busy all night long. If none of that interests you, at least get a photo with the famous Glico Man sign!

P.S. I'm officially living in New York now and I promise a post soon about what I've been up to. New York (and NYU) has spoiled me so far and I love all of the opportunities here.

Japan Trip: Kobe

Playing: The Weekend-Priory
Reading: After Dark by Haruki Murakami

Between Hiroshima and Osaka, Tina and I spent a day in Kobe with our friend, Alex. Kobe is obviously most famous for Kobe beef, but most of the places serving Kobe beef ranged around 3,000 - 4,000 yen. Since that was out of my spending range, I still visited the famous Steakland but opted for the Large Toast Steak Lunch. I know that meat is more expensive in Japan than it is in the states, but I still felt like it was pretty expensive for a few cubes of steak and to get filled up on rice/veggies.

Within walking distance of Steakland is Ikuta Shrine and Tokyu Hands, which are both great places to walk around whether you want to visit another shrine or go shopping. Ikuta Shrine itself was fairly small but it was worth walking around because of its proximity to Kobe's main tourist attractions and because of the small forest behind it, which houses a fortune teller and another shrine.

The main reason we went to Kobe was to take a look around Chinatown, which is also within walking distance of Ikuta Shrine and Steakland. Although Kobe's Chinatown was smaller than the other ones I've been to, I did like how clean it was. Unlike other Chinatowns, all of the food looked safe to eat and it did not reek of trash, which other Chinatowns often do. Tina and I were shocked at how large the portions were and how most meals were under 500 yen.

These pork buns from Roushouki in Chinatown were by far the best thing I ate during my trip. We waited in line for 30 minutes, figuring a long line meant good food. The long line theory worked. These buns were served right out of the steamer and were incredibly juicy. As soon as we finished off our first round of buns, we immediately got back in line and bought more.

Before boarding the train for Osaka, we visited Harborland, which you can walk to but I highly recommend taking the subway. Harborland is home to the Anpanman Museum and multiple shopping centers. It's a great place to walk around even though it's not exactly unique to Japan. If you can, try to go when it's dark out to see the ferris wheel and Kobe tower lit up. If you were to visit Kobe, I would recommend spending an afternoon there instead of a full day. Eat in Chinatown and explore the area before taking a look at Ikuta Shrine. Then head over to Harborland to look at the Anpanman Museum, shop a bit, watch the sunset, and eat dinner.

Japan Trip: Hiroshima and Miyajima

Playing: Cecilia and the Satellite-Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness
Reading: The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan (Very odd.)

After our time in Fukuoka, we took a Shikansen to Hiroshima, where we spent three days. On our first day there, Tina and I visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and Hiroshima Peace Park, which is what Hiroshima is probably best known for. The museum itself is historically important, I understand, but a lot of the content is rather disturbing because it deals with the effects of the atomic bomb and shows rather graphic photos (and artifacts) of the effects. If you're into history, go take a look, but I wouldn't advise it for children.

We ended up meeting up with our friend, Alex, at our hotel before heading off to Okonomi-mura. Okonomi-mura is a building dedicated to the popular fried cabbage pancake called okonomiyaki with stall after stall of okanomayaki restaurants. At all of the stalls, you sit at a counter, while your food is cooked in front of you. If you're there, you have to order the okanomayaki with noodles in it because Hiroshima is known for its noodle addition.We chose the specific booth we ate at because it was the only one offering okonomyaki made with udon.

The main reason why we stopped off at Hiroshima was so that we could take a day trip to Miyajima, an island popular with Japanese tourists for its shrines and wild deer. Although Miyajima is most famous for Itsukushima Shrine, I personally preferred Daisho-in Temple. The temple sprawled throughout Miyajima, up hillsides and over small streams. Pretty much everywhere I looked was picture perfect.

During high tide, the three of us took a rowboat out to look at the torii, the red arch, that made Itsukushima Shrine famous. The rowboat tour cost 800 yen and the tour is only offered in Japanese. Luckily, I had Tina and Alex there to translate for me. If you can't speak Japanese (or don't have a handy dandy translator), but still want to go out on the ocean to get near the arch, you can try renting a paddle board or wait until the tide is low enough for you to walk to it.

Other than the beautiful shrines and temples, Miyajima had excellent hiking trails and streams to run through. The three of us spent most of our day running up the mountain side and gallivanting through streams to the point where the three of us suffered sore muscles for the next day or so. We only stopped exploring when the sun started to go down out of fear of missing the last ferry back to the mainland. Miyajima also had deer roaming around the whole island, meaning you can go feed deer during your time there too.

PS Don't miss my Japan trip giveaway! Tons of cute beauty products and accessories could be yours. Only 3 days left!

Edit-The giveaway is now closed and Mindy Fan of Broken Eggshells won. I will be contacting you by email shortly.

Japan Trip: Fukuoka and Dazaifu

Playing: Take My Advice-Wild Party
Reading: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

We took a flight from Okinawa to Fukuoka in the middle of Typhoon Neoguri, which was mildly terrifying for me. Luckily, we got to Fukuoka safely and we were the only Okinawan flight to not be canceled that day. Tina and I heard that the typhoon was supposed to follow us to Fukuoka, so we crammed in some sightseeing on our first day in Fukuoka, thinking we wouldn't have the next day. Our first stop was Fukuoka Tower because we heard that it had a spectacular view and I have to agree. Fukuoka Tower offers views of the ocean, of multiple rivers and of Fukuoka itself for a price much lower than that of other towers like Tokyo Skytree.

Once again out of fear of the typhoon, Tina and I felt the need to do all of Fukuoka's most famous activities the first day we were there. Apparently, Fukuoka is well known for ramen, so we tried Shin Shin due to its high ranking on Trip Advisor. While Shin Shin was inexpensive at 500 yen a bowl and the food came out quickly, I wasn't overly impressed with it. Everything about the ramen was pretty standard.

Fortunately, the typhoon didn't come on our second (and last) day in Fukuoka, so we took a day trip to Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine, which is rather beautiful. Other than the flocks of snap-happy tourists, Tina and I both enjoyed the temple plus the area around it.

By way of an elderly local, we discovered Komyozenji Temple, which is extremely easy to get to from Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine. You literally turn down one street and walk straight. (Ask any of the locals and they should know.) While we were at this temple, we found a map detailing other touristy places to look at like a pagoda, so go try that out. You'll get to see some things that are still touristy, but not touristy enough to attract all those snap-happy tourists I aforementioned.

Before heading back into Fukuoka, Tina and I got lunch along the main street leading from Dazaifu Station to Dazaifu Tenmangu Temple at a quaint restaurant called Oshinagaki. The beautiful garden located in the back was the main feature that attracted us to this specific eatery. We both ordered the mixed soba plates, which featured regular soba along with pickled plum and green tea soba. Although it was a bit pricier than I would've liked, I enjoyed my dish and would go back.

Before I leave for New York, I wanted to host a worldwide giveaway for all the things I bought for you guys during my time in Japan. If you win the giveaway, you will receive:

• 1 Rilakkuma Tote Bag
• 3 Bath Bombs in Yuzu, Lavender, and Pine Tree
• 1 Face Mask in White Rose
• 1 Lip Mask in Peach
• 1 Pack of Point Pads in Strawberry
• 1 Rilakkumagazine
• 2 Matcha Green Tea KitKat Bars
• 2 Pompom Hair Scrunchies
• 3 tokidoki Pins

To enter, here are the rules:

1. You must be a public follower of this blog and comment below with your name and email.
2. For an extra entry, you may blog about this giveaway and comment with the link to your post that mentioned my giveaway.
3. For an additional entry, follow me on Instagram @this_is_audrey and comment below with your Instagram username.

This means that there are three entries available. Step 1 is the only mandatory one, but to do steps 2 and 3 you must do step 1. The winner will be announced on August 15 and will be chosen by a random number generator after I add up all of the entries. The winner must respond to my email within four days (August 19) otherwise I won't be able to mail the prize because I will be too busy moving across the country.

Japan Trip: Okinawa

Playing: Ten Days Gone-Jack's Mannequin
Reading: Wherever Issue 1

Hello everyone! I just got back from Japan last night. During my month-long trip, I spent five days on the southernmost island of Japan, Okinawa. Admittedly, Tina and I didn't do a lot of research on Okinawa other than a castle or two plus the aquarium. We just assumed the beach would be easy to get to because that's what Okinawa is most famous for. However, it took us close to an hour to get to Bibi Beach from our hostel, which was two streets over from Kokusaidori. 

While we were there, we did try taco rice and Okinawan ramen multiple times, since Okinawa is famous for both. The taco rice was decent at most of the places, but you can easily make it yourself at home. Just make tacos and replace the shell with rice. The ramen there was pretty mild in terms of flavor other than the thick slabs of pork belly in it.

We had originally planned to do mostly beach activities, but as I mentioned before, it was too far away, so we ended up visiting a lot of other places like the Tsuboya pottery district. The pottery district is pretty much one long street that leaves you at the mouth of  Heiwa Dori. Although it was nice, it wasn't anything exceptional. I recommend wandering off the main street in an attempt to find the studios of those who actually make the ceramic gifts being sold along Tsuboya's main street. Tina and I were able to find one and the guys working there offered us seats so that we could stay and watch.

Shuri Castle was another super touristy attraction that we visited. It had an incredible view and at 700 yen, I can't complain about the price. Like most of Okinawa though, it didn't leave me speechless. For the most part, Okinawa felt like an extra hot Hawaii with Japanese influences at times.

Churaumi Aquarium was my favorite thing that I saw during our trip there. It had a large variety of sea life and a museum section dedicated to all sorts of preserved fish like megamouth sharks and oarfish. The aquarium is most famous for its whale shark tank, which is incredible and you should definitely go watch during feeding time, but I also really liked the park surrounding the aquarium, which had even more tanks along with dolphin shows. It took us around two hours to get there and cost 6,000 yen round trip on the bus system. It really bothered me that it took forever to get anywhere in Okinawa, since everything was spread out, and that it cost a minor fortune to get places.

time to say goodbye

Playing: Somewhere Only We Know-Keane
Reading: The Honor Code by Kwame Anthony Appiah

It's hard to believe it's been three weeks, since I visited Berkeley. I really love it up there. It feels both more urban and more rural there in a way than where I live. A complete paradox, but the gardens are less tame and the trees grow higher yet there is absolutely nowhere to park your car, which is the case in most cities. Another perk about Berkeley is its cute stores and markets, which are mixed with Berkeley's more famous laid back, anti-authoritarian spirit. (For example, my brother lived a block away from an indoor Swedish ski resort style food court that was next to three medical marijuana stores in a row.)

The reason why I visited Berkeley was to attend my brother's graduation from UC Berkeley. Yeah, that's how smart my brother is-he survived all four years at the sixth best university in the world, according to Times Higher Education. It's weird to think that I won't be heading up in that general area for a long time, since my brother won't be there.

I have several friends that turned down UC Berkeley for UCLA and I really wonder why. I know that UCLA is in a nice neighborhood and that it's known for good looking people, but you can't beat Berkeley's atmosphere. Some of their dorms look like English boarding schools and the town itself is so great.

Talking about how great the city is, Berkeley honestly has the best food. Not only do they have your standard American food, they have revamped versions of almost every country's cuisine. Joshu-ya serves up some amazing Asian fusion dishes such as this pork belly soba, which is fatty, spicy, and refreshing all at the same time. Not to mention, there's also a creative noodle bar, the best Italian joint ever (at the best price ever), a Brazilian hut that focuses on amazing sandwiches, and a Pacific Cookie Company, which sells the craziest, most delicious cookies called Cherry Bombs. If nothing else, on your next San Francisco trip, you should stop by Berkeley for all the food.

New York Photo Diary: Part 2

Playing: Hard to Explain-The Strokes
Reading: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Other than spending inordinate amounts of time shopping and eating, I did manage to fit in a trip to MoMa and the Guggenheim. MoMA is definitely worth visiting, while the Guggenheim can be rather dull other than its fun spiral design. Pictured above are 30 Rock (where Holden Caulfield went ice skating with Sally Hayes), a church near Washington Square Park, a raspberry cronut from Mille Feuille, and some shots taken at MoMA.
In case you were wondering why I was in New York, I was out there visiting NYU, which I will be attending in the fall. That means that I will be moving to the city that Alexander Wang, Marc Jacobs, Simon Doonan, Anna Wintour, etc. call home, which is pretty exciting. If you could give me tips on how to survive winter time, it would be much appreciated. What clothes do I wear? Is it possible to look cute in a puffy coat? Am I going to survive? Will I get stabbed on a subway? The world may never know, but maybe you can help.

New York Photo Diary: Part I

Playing: Anna Sun-Walk the Moon
Reading: Forrest Gump by Winston Groom

New York has always been one of my favorite cities and I've always had this dream of moving there one day and working there before getting married and moving to Los Angeles. One of the things that I love about the city is how busy it is and how it has pockets of history hidden between sleek skyscrapers. New York makes you feel important when you're there unlike LA, which as much as I love it, can feel a bit suburban at times due to the fact that LA is spread out over a vast area of land. Over break, I had the chance to visit New York and pictured above are a few of my favorite shots of buildings I took and the ricotta pancakes at Maialino, a cute albeit pricey cafe.