After Tony spent two months alone in Japan, Bettina finally came to visit for one week to help Tony find a home. They spent three days house hunting and finally decided to rent a little brand new townhouse in Yagoto. Pictures will follow after move-in in September.
While Tony was at work Bettina visited Nagoya's main attraction the Nagoya's castle.
The weather was very tiring: extremely humid and hot which made sightseeing less comfortable.
However Bettina still boarded the famous bullet train Shinkansen for a speedy short 35 minute ride to Japan's most visited tourist attraction: Kyoto.
Can you find Bettina in the train station crowd?
Kyoto has so many temples, shrines and beautiful gardens that Bettina's and Tony's Kyoto pictures were not duplicate but complimentary. See Kyoto's Golden Pavillon, Kiyomizudera Temple, Heian Shrine and Gion's winding streets:
Finally the weekend arrived and Tony had time for sightseeing with Bettina. They decided to take the train to Toba, a little harbor city where the famous Mikimoto Pearl Island is located. Tony and Bettina watched the traditional pearl diver women demonstrate their skills, helped a little and visited the very informative Pearl Museum. Tony offered Bettina even a beautiful pearl tiara.
After visiting Japan's largest temple area, the shrine of Ise, Tony and Bettina were up for a real local treat, a summer festival with 9000 fireworks displays at the river banks of Shima Nationalpark. The fireworks were going on for 2 hours while food vendors were preparing delicious snacks at hundred of food stalls along both sides of the river banks.
While Tony will be up for many more of these summer festivals while in Japan, Bettina had to return home to work.
