Me & a college at dinner, she dressed up in traditional silk kimono!

LOVE LOVE LOVE TEPPANIAKY!!!

Tonight we were taken for dinner to a small restaurant in a basement by a Japanese college, a Teppaniaky place! Amazing how good the food was! So pure, simple ingredients, of the best quality. And of course, the new fave plum wine!

 

For 2 hours we had the food coming: king prawns, scallops, asparagus, sweet potato, fried tofu, lemon chicken, kebab, Thai chicken, edamame beans, squid, potato, sweetcorn, shiitake mushrooms, beef. 

And I could probably have gone for another round if we just would have stayed for another hour.

Touchdown Japan - first findings

• Baseball seems to be the national sport followed by tennis
• Some people do get close to breaking their necks staring at me
• I have seen in total 9 foreigners in town this first day
• I am horrible coping with jet lag
• I am horrible coping with the weather conditions, cruising between spots of shadow on the streets. However, I am not the only one, all Japanese do it too!
• Shopping is amazing!
• Size system is horrible...S/M/L/LL for shoes!! Only 3-4 sizes?? And yes of course, L is nowhere close to fitting my 39's...
• Going by local bus takes you on a time travel to the 60s (very cute though!), however the air co is from this Millenium and I am extremely thankful for that
• It actually goes pretty smooth me not speaking Japanese and they not speaking English.

Recipe for another amazing weekend

Gastronomic Friday: Fresh Cumin Chevre & crackers with Portonic (White port, Tonic, fresh mint & lime) + Homemade Vietnamese spring rolls + Limoncello Tiramisu

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Sunny Saturday: sun bathing in the parc, passing by the Lake Parade spectacle (technoic straight-ish version of the Gay Parade), a glass of cold rosé at Cottage Café overlooking the fountain, Mausoleum, lake and mountains

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Lazy Sunday: with the Sunday Newspaper over brunch, a visit to the Modern Arts Museum of Geneva (the funniest museum visit I've made in a long time!) and finishing with visit to "home-away-from-home" Le Calamar in the warm evening sun

Interlaken - Part 3: Trümmelbach

I do know how to count, that after 2 comes 3, then 4. However, Interlaken - Part 3 had hidden in the archive...sneaky little thing!  We reached Trümmelbach during the bike ride on the second day, as part of our journey. Trümmelbach is a series of 10 glacier-waterfalls inside the mountain. They have caved out tunnels inside the mountain and built elevator and stairs for people to get as close as possible to the waterfalls.

The power of them is absolutely breathtaking! The water is drainage from the 3 big glaciers Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau.

20,200 tons of water passes every year, and the waterfalls comes with a speed and power of up to 20,000 litres of water per second! This powerful waterfalls have throughout history shaped the mountain in beautiful curves and cork screws, creating a labyrinth of tunnels. 

It is the only glacier-waterfalls in Europe inside a mountain and still accessible.

Interlaken - Part 4: Out on the lake again...!

After the long day of biking we felt that we deserved a more relaxed day 3 in Interlaken. So, we went back to the lake and rented a paddle boat. For 4 hours, just relaxing in the sun, swimming in the lake (not me!)...

He had never worn a life jacket (according to himself...hard to believe though...), so he took it on and jumped into the water with it. Probably the last time...