Here and there but not quite everywhere!
After waking up at the Courtyard, we headed over to 瑠璃光院 Ruriko-in for its fall special viewing event. We then ascended 比叡山 Mt. Hiei by funicular and aerial tram. Atop the mountain, we visited the ガーデンミュージアム比叡 Garden Museum Hiei and various buildings of 延暦寺 Enryaku-ji. We descended by funicular to the east and returned to Kyoto by train. In the evening, we attended a special night viewing at 智積院 Chishaku-in.
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After waking up at the Courtyard, we headed over to Kiyomizu-dera to see the fall foliage and the special viewing of the garden at Joju-in. We then had gyukatsu for lunch and headed over to Heian-jingu to take a look around the shrine and garden. We ended the day with excellent parfaits at Gion Tsujiri before walking back to the hotel via Nishiki Market.
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After having dinner in Reston and staying overnight at the AC Hotel, we visited the Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in the morning. We saw the preparations for the Winter Walk of Lights as well as various flowers and a few birds. After, we had lunch in Vienna and visited the Leesburg Premium Outlets before returning home via Frederick.
Continue reading “Fall at the Meadowlark Botanical Gardens”
The latest fall foliage report showed that Frederick County was at peak. So, we went to Catoctin Mountain Park to take a look. Peak is probably not how we’d have described what we saw! After spending some time hiking, we drove over to Frederick to have lunch and to take a walk through the small city’s downtown area.
Continue reading “Fall Foliage at Catoctin Mountain Park”
After waking up at the Hyatt Place Kyoto one last time, we returned to Tokyo via Shinkansen. We had some time before our flight from Haneda so we visited the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace, near Tokyo Station. After a nice lunch nearby and some more snacking at the ANA Lounge at Haneda, we end our fantastic 11 night trip to Japan!
Continue reading “Tokyo Imperial Palace East Gardens”