Thanksgiving in Japan, Part 2: Another Side of Honshu

From Tokyo, we took a 2.5 hour bullet train to Kyoto, where we were staying for the rest of the trip. While I hadn’t gone into the trip planning on trying to see Mount Fuji, since that seemed like a great way to be disappointed, the weather was amazingly kind to us, and for several minutes on the train we had an amazing view of the volcano out the window. 

The gorgeous snowcapped mountain (photo/Jason Rafal)

Kyoto is one of Japan’s oldest cities, and it has so much cultural and historical significance that it was considered and then thankfully dismissed as a target for an atomic bombing during WWII.

We arrived in Kyoto in the afternoon on Thanksgiving. We walked to a small miso ramen shop for dinner, and then watched a traditional maiko performance at our hotel. I’m not going to pretend to understand all the cultural significance of the dances, but every element was incredibly deliberate, graceful, and precise, and it was a good introduction to the different feel of the city.

Watching the maiko performance with other tourists (photo/Jason Rafal)

Kyoto was very beautiful and incredibly crowded. We hadn’t fully realized that we were going to hit high time for Kyoto’s fall foliage visitors. We normally try to avoid the crowds of high season, so it was a bit frustrating, but the leaves were absolutely beautiful. Everywhere we went, from temples to shrines to parks or just streets, were surrounded by green, yellow, orange, and red accents. 

On our first full day, we went to Fushimi Inari-taisha, the famous shrine with 10,000 torii gates, early to try to beat the crowds. The bottom was annoyingly crowded despite our best efforts, but as we climbed further up the mountain, the crowds thinned and we were able to have small moments by ourselves among the bright orange gates and the beautiful fall leaves. 

The beautiful main hall of the shrine (photo/Jason Rafal)

A typical crowded scene near the base of the gates (photo/Jason Rafal)

One of many hanging lanterns (photo/Jason Rafal)

A typical scene as we walked up the mountain (photo/Jason Rafal)

Small mossy details at the top of some torii gates (photo/Jason Rafal)

A row of Omikuji (paper fortunes) tied along a string (photo/Jason Rafal)

The gates led to groups of small shrines all over the mountain (photo/Jason Rafal)

Tiny torii gates at one of the small shrines along the path (photo/Jason Rafal)

More tiny gates (photo/Jason Rafal)

Foxes are considered messengers of the god Inari and were everywhere at the shrine (photo/Jason Rafal)

Lots of fox faces (photo/Jason Rafal)

A fox in the forest (photo/Jason Rafal)

Our afternoon excursion, after fighting some more crowds at the other side of the city, was a climb up the mountain to Arashiyama Monkey Park Iwatayama. After a beautiful hike, we arrived at a viewpoint that had both beautiful views and dozens of wild macaques.

Even beyond the wildlife, the hike up the mountain was beautiful (photo/Jason Rafal)

The view over Kyoto (photo/Jason Rafal)

The monkeys on the mountainside aren’t contained in any way, but they do hang out at this overlook during the day because they get fed there, and then go back up in elevation at dusk. There were lots of rules about giving them space, not making eye contact, and keeping all your belongings in your backpack, and there were also several rangers making sure that people didn’t get too close, which made me feel better about the safety of the animals. There was an option to buy snacks for the monkeys (to feed the monkeys safely, the humans went inside a big cage), but we just walked around the area and took pictures and were generally entertained.

Aside from being adorable, the macaques are highly social, and it’s fascinating to watch them interact with each other while they groom, cuddle, and chase each other off when they get annoyed.

A handsome monkey on a rooftop (photo/Jason Rafal)

A cuddling monkey family (photo/Jason Rafal)

Hanging out on the roof (photo/Jason Rafal)

This one spent a lot of time grooming its foot (photo/Jason Rafal)

More family grooming (photo/Jason Rafal)

While the adults were snoozing, these young monkeys spent some time playing on the fence (photo/Jason Rafal)

Playing protect the stick (photo/Jason Rafal)

Monkey mountain had the most amazing foliage of the trip (photo/Jason Rafal)

A handsome monkey posing in a tree on our walk down (photo/Jason Rafal)

People boating on the Katsura River against a beautiful backdrop (photo/Jason Rafal)

The next day we took a day trip to Nara, which had two draws for us: the largest bronze Buddha in the world, and a whole lot of very friendly deer. I went into this excursion with pretty open expectations, and I had a great time. The deer, which are just…everywhere, are wild but also very used to getting fed by visitors (people could buy cookies to feed them at official stalls), so they’re not really nervous about humans. They were laying all over the park, following tourists around looking for treats, and just generally hanging out.

A buck smelling Jason’s camera (photo/Jason Rafal)

Saying hi to some of the deer (photo/Jason Rafal)

The bronze Buddha, which was completed in 751, is in a giant building at the Tōdai-ji temple. The great hall that houses the Buddha (like many fancy buildings in Japan) has burned down and been rebuilt multiple times. When it was built, the original building was the largest wooden structure in the world. Both the current Great Buddha Hall and the statue itself were incredibly impressive.

The Great Hall from the outside (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking through the entrance of the Great Hall (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking up at the massive 500 tonne Buddha (photo/Jason Rafal)

A model of the original structures of the Tōdai-ji complex (photo/Jason Rafal)

A buck acting like a statue in front of Tōdai-ji (photo/Jason Rafal)

A doe in the sunlight (photo/Jason Rafal)

Nara was filled with deer imagery, which I loved (photo/Jason Rafal)

Something about a deer crossing the road (photo/Jason Rafal)

The next day we took an afternoon trip to Osaka, where our plans were to wander around the ornate Osaka Castle and find some good food. Immediately upon getting off the train, we walked straight into a Santa Parade, which was unexpected and kind of amazing. There were hundreds of Santas mulling around, and a band playing rock covers of Christmas songs.

Santas filling Osaka Castle Park (photo/Jason Rafal)

Some dinosaur Santas enjoying the band (photo/Jason Rafal)

We saw people carrying owls a few times over the trip (photo/Jason Rafal)

The main attraction we went to in Osaka was the Castle, which was built in the 1580s and was originally the largest castle in Japan. We didn’t go in since the lines were so long, but the grounds are beautiful and the outside of the castle is ornate and commands attention every time it’s visible.

Looking up at the castle (photo/Jason Rafal)

The view of the castle over a garden pond (photo/Jason Rafal)

Beautiful leaves in the garden outside the castle (photo/Jason Rafal)

The moat around Osaka Castle (photo/Jason Rafal)

Shrine buildings and fall leaves (photo/Jason Rafal)

We also spent some time walking around the Osaka waterfront, which is a feast for the eyes. The Don Quijote (an amazing Japanese everything store with casino vibes) even had a ferris wheel. Osaka seems like a very cool city (including all the locals, who were definitely cooler than me) and I’d like to spend more time there.

Looking out over the Osaka river walk (photo/Jason Rafal)

One of the giant animal models adorning restaurant facades (photo/Jason Rafal)

I’m not even sure what is happening here (photo/Jason Rafal)

I love this combination of Japan’s obsessions with claw machines and food models (photo/Jason Rafal)

One of the downtown shopping streets, complete with giant food models (photo/Jason Rafal)

Tasogare Coffee Stand, which had delicious coffee and an incredible commitment to their rustic decor theme (photo/Jason Rafal)

On our last morning in Kyoto, we spent some time wandering around the city before heading to a tea ceremony we had booked.

A Kyoto temple (photo/Jason Rafal)

A couple taking photos at Maruyama Park (photo/Jason Rafal)

One of the peaceful canals running through Kyoto (photo/Jason Rafal)

Our tea ceremony was at a cultural center with two other couples, one from Finland and one from Germany. Our instructor, Suzuki, told us about how she joined a tea ceremony club in school because it was the only way to eat sweets while at school, and then fell in love with the art and teaching ceremonies.

Matcha and sweets (photo/Jason Rafal)

Suzuki showing us how to mix matcha (photo/Jason Rafal)

One of the many courtyard gardens (photo/Jason Rafal)

I will always remember the incredible fall colors of this trip (photo/Jason Rafal)

We had a wonderful time in Japan, and we’re excited to come back (next time, we want to head north and explore Hokkaido). Until then, I have memories of blue skies and red leaves to get me through this winter.

Thanksgiving in Japan, Part 1: Tokyo

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Jason and I had been planning to go to Japan for years - he had visited as a kid and wanted to go again (when he was more willing to enjoy all the food on offer), and I was excited to visit for the first time. The pandemic, of course, slowed things down considerably, but when I saw a points deal in January 2024 for a trip over Thanksgiving, I jumped on it. This was before I knew that 2024 was going to be a huge year for tourism in Japan; I know several other people who went before we did.

We began our trip with five days in Tokyo. I’d been curious to see how overwhelming I’d find the massive city, and it was both just as overwhelmingly large as I’d imagined, and much easier to navigate. This is mostly due to Tokyo’s gold standard transit systems, which we used every day while we were there (we didn’t get in a car the whole time we were in Japan). Aside from having a lot of lines and stops, trains are frequent, and we rarely waited more than 3 minutes in the city center. Each train line also has a letter and a numbering system for the stops, so we could just remember that we needed to go toward A14 while trying to navigate. Our transit cards worked for trains, buses, and even many vending machines, so we didn’t have to think about which method of transit we were allowed to take. It was just all pretty seamless (though we did get lost in a couple of train stations - I’m not even embarrassed to admit that, it’s a second city under the ground level).

Tokyo is both very busy and utterly quiet. We spoke in whispers pretty much the entire trip, and when Jason (who is quite a loud human) forgot and spoke at normal volume a couple of times, he got some disapproving looks. It’s so interesting to be in a city of 10 million people and have everything be so…quiet. It’s simultaneously nice and unnerving.

A quiet moment next to a busy area (photo/Jason Rafal)

Everything in Japan was cute, short, and narrow, and most restaurants were either tiny or stacked. I was right on the edge of having to duck constantly, but Jason was always either in danger of hitting his head or actually hitting it. There are also signs all over Tokyo, warning against all sorts of things, including many parking rules and regulations which made me very glad I didn’t have to park a car.

A small sliver of the huge span of Tokyo Station (photo/Jason Rafal)

We attempted to prioritize food, coffee, parks, Shinto shrines, Buddhist temples, and some general attractions. Despite the amazing train system, we also walked a lot, averaging about 10 miles per day. Tokyo, as well as the other cities we visited, has beautiful green spaces, whether it’s a giant park or a tiny street corner. We also had amazing timing for fall foliage; the ginkgo and maple trees were all amazing.

The fountain at Hibiya Park (photo/Jason Rafal)

Amazing ginkgo leaves at Hibiya Park (photo/Jason Rafal)

Our first big excursion was to the Imperial Palace, where the sitting emperor lives. We didn’t go in, but spent a while exploring the beautiful grounds.

The bridge to Sakashita-mon Gate at the Imperial Palace (photo/Jason Rafal)

The Sakurada Tatsumi Yagura against the backdrop of the city (photo/Jason Rafal)

Ninomaru Garden (photo/Jason Rafal)

More views of Ninomaru Garden (photo/Jason Rafal)

The Touka Gakudo concert hall on the Imperial Palace grounds (photo/Jason Rafal)

We went to the Sensō-ji temple, and though it was crowded and touristy, I had a great time. The grounds are in the middle of a bustling neighborhood, and there were shops and food stalls set up all around the temple.

Approaching the temple (photo/Jason Rafal)

A giant red lantern (photo/Jason Rafal)

We spent some time walking around the neighborhood next to the temple, which has a lot of the knives, kitchenware, and food models.

One of the many shopping streets (photo/Jason Rafal)

High levels of excitement for matcha ice cream with small bears (photo/Jason Rafal)

I have a great love of miniatures and food models, and Japan had a ton of both (photo/Jason Rafal)

Tokyo Skytree in the distance (photo/Jason Rafal)

We also caught the beginning of a parade as night fell. There was drumming and light up floats and announcements we couldn’t understand and it was very fun.

Approaching some amazing parade floats through the crowds (photo/Jason Rafal)

I have no idea what was happening, but it was fun (photo/Jason Rafal)

The Sensō-ji pagoda (photo/Jason Rafal)

Ornamental lantern

We decided to go to the Shibuya Scramble Crossing at night to get the full effect of the lights, ads, and crowds.

Two very different buses (photo/Jason Rafal)

A very tall and pretty train station (photo/Jason Rafal)

The classic Shibuya crossing photo (photo/Jason Rafal)

We pretty quickly got overwhelmed by the crowds at Shibuya and decided to go to Omoide Yokocho, a famous street full of casual food stalls, to get something to eat. We stopped at Kameya, a soba noodle shop with a line, but were seated almost immediately because the process of eating took about 10 minutes - you sat down, handed the guy some coins, got your noodles a couple minutes later, ate quickly, and got up. It was delicious and also just fun to watch them work.

Tiny seasonally decorated streets (photo/Jason Rafal)

So excited for noodles (photo/Jason Rafal)

The noodles (photo/Nicole Harrison)

Golden-Gai, quiet early on a weekday evening (photo/Jason Rafal)

We also went to the giant Meiji Jingu shrine, which was finished in 1920 during the Meiji period in the midst of a huge forest. While I’m not a spiritual person, there’s something very magical about a deliberate, special place inside a huge forest in the middle of a massive city.

The Meiji Jingu Consecrated Sake Barrels (photo/Jason Rafal)

A lot of wine barrels from Bourgogne, where we spent our honeymoon (photo/Jason Rafal)

Bonsai trees in Meiji Jingu Gyoen (photo/Jason Rafal)

An offering of vegetables (photo/Jason Rafal)

People writing prayers on small wooden plaques called ema (photo/Jason Rafal)

We had been looking forward to the coffee in Japan, and it did not disappoint us. There’s coffee everywhere, from chains to traditional coffee lounges to the third-wave shops that we love most. The care put into every step of the coffee experience is amazing, from roasting the beans to brewing the coffee and steaming the milk. We found a lot of great coffee shops, and a couple of amazing ones.

Coffee for sale at one of our favorite coffee shops (photo/Jason Rafal)

Swamp was an incredible coffee shop - tiny, amazing coffee, and great jazz playing (photo/Jason Rafal)

The peaceful atmosphere at Bongen Coffee, where we waited an hour and the coffee was amazing (photo/Jason Rafal)

The original specialty coffee shop in Tokyo, Cafe de L’ambre (photo/Jason Rafal)

Not my favorite type of coffee, but the atmosphere and experience was wonderful (photo/Jason Rafal)

We also really enjoyed going to Tsukiji Market, which is covered in tourists (earlier is always better for fewer crowds) but has a lot of fun food to try. I had my favorite piece of tuna in my life cooked in front of me with a shallow cast iron pan of oil and a torch.

My favorite tuna (photo/Jason Rafal)

I also had a grilled scallop (photo/Jason Rafal)

My favorite park that we visited in Tokyo was the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. It’s absolutely stunning, with a lot of unique areas and beautiful ponds and amazing trees.

This park had incredible trees (photo/Jason Rafal)

There was a formal, more manicured area of the garden (photo/Jason Rafal)

A beautiful row of trees (photo/Jason Rafal)

Crazy plants in the greenhouse at the garden (photo/Jason Rafal)

A very cool flower (photo/Jason Rafal)

Japan loves rules and signs (photo/Jason Rafal)

Some more cool flowers (photo/Jason Rafal)

I can’t really express how amazing the golden ginkgo leaves were (photo/Jason Rafal)

We spent a couple of hours exploring before heading to a tiny (and amazing) udon restaurant nearby, and then we went back to spend some more time in the park. It was especially magical with all the yellows, oranges, and reds of fall.

Jason’s lunch (photo/Jason Rafal)

Perfectly kept gardens and ponds (photo/Jason Rafal)

The photogenic Taiwan Pavilion (photo/Jason Rafal)

A typical scene around the park - pretty leaves and lots of people taking photos (photo/Jason Rafal)

We had been going back and forth about whether we wanted to go to Tokyo Skytree, which is very similar to the Seattle Space Needle (but much taller - I found out after our trip that it’s the tallest tower in the world). I eventually booked tickets for sunset, figuring that would be one of the more interesting times to visit, and after walking through a very surreal European-style Christmas market, we headed up the 450 meters to the top deck.

A very surreal moment of fake snow and European sausages (photo/Jason Rafal)

It’s so much taller than it looks (photo/Jason Rafal)

Sorakara-chan, one of the official characters of Tokyo Skytree, taking photos with fans (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking north over the Sumida River (photo/Jason Rafal)

I had been a little disappointed because it was such a hazy afternoon, and I knew it wouldn’t be clear enough to see Mount Fuji. However, to my amazement, once we got up there we could see the setting sun highlighting the outline of the volcano. We all stared at it for several minutes and tried to take photos around the other tourists.

Taking in the sunset in the top gallery (photo/Jason Rafal)

Mount Fuji casting a mountain shadow across the sunset (photo/Jason Rafal)

Alright, time for some random photos from Tokyo that didn’t really have a section.

At one point, we went into a mall to get dinner (all of the malls are full of amazing food, especially in the basement), and while we were walking around a clothing store waiting for the restaurant to open, we started hearing a loud fan noise and smelling burning plastic & rubber. Mildly concerned, we went up on the roof garden (also almost ubiquitous to malls) to avoid breathing fumes. When we went in half an hour later, the noise was gone and the smell was dissipating, so we went and ate. On our way out, we saw the fire department examining…something in one of the shops.

We’re glad we braved whatever small fire was happening for this delicious tonkatsu (photo/Jason Rafal)

Examining the issue on our way out (photo/Jason Rafal)

This city also has a minor obsession with cats and I’m here for it.

Various things I loved in Tokyo: hot drinks from vending machines, beautiful autumn leaves, great parks, and gashapon.

We had a wonderful time in Tokyo. Five days was the right amount of time for us this trip, though it would be easy to spend weeks exploring the different areas of the city. We stayed busy, but also made sure to not load up our days with too many activities.

Next, we boarded a Shinkansen to travel to Kyoto for the next leg of the trip, which you’ll be able to see in the next blog (and if you thought the foliage was good in Tokyo…it gets better).

A Tour of Portugal

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I hope you’re excited to see a lot of pictures of beautiful Portuguese architecture, because that’s much of what this blog is going to be. When our friend Bella planned a birthday celebration in southern Portugal, we took the opportunity to add on a few days in Lisbon and Porto as well.

We arrived in Lisbon several hours late due to a flight delay and a missed connection (thanks, Condor), so we spent a single day in Lisbon (for the second time - we had been here for about 24 hours at the end of 2019). We took the opportunity to go to some adorable coffee shops, eat good food, and walk up some of Lisbon’s many steep hills.

Picturesque churches and trolleys are everywhere in Portugal (photo/Jason Rafal)

A patient dog sitting beside an excellent example of how patios must be built on hills in Lisbon (photo/Jason Rafal)

Lisbon was just as I remembered - colorful, beautiful, absurdly clean, and constantly hilly.

A steep pedestrian street (photo/Jason Rafal)

Classic Lisbon (photo/Jason Rafal)

A don't even know what's happening here (photo/Jason Rafal)

A fado mural in one of the pedestrian stairwells (photo/Jason Rafal)

Resting partway up the stairs (photo/Jason Rafal)

One of the nice things about cities with lots of steep hills is that they tend to have lots of great viewpoints.

The beautiful view from Miradouro da Graça (photo/Jason Rafal)

Antiquated-looking transit in front of the Arco da Rua Augusta (photo/Jason Rafal)

The Praça do Comércio (photo/Jason Rafal)

A big brutalist building among the colorful houses (photo/Jason Rafal)

A beautiful building facade (photo/Jason Rafal)

A giant tree at the lovely Jardim da Estrela (photo/Jason Rafal)

Sunset views from Miradouro da São Pedro de Alcântara (photo/Jason Rafal)

Evening views (photo/Jason Rafal)

Trolleys hanging out on an incredibly steep street (photo/Jason Rafal)

From Lisbon, we drove down to Alvor, where we met up with some of our favorite people to celebrate our friend Bella’s 30th birthday. It was three wonderful days of eating and drinking and laughing and we have very few photos (and most of the ones we do have are ridiculous).

Bella's birthday bash (photo/random person on the beach)

On our last day in Alvor, we took a boat trip from Lagos to Luz, along some of the stunning southern Portuguese coastline. It was a lovely afternoon spent cruising in a catamaran and swimming in the Atlantic with friends, and we ended the weekend tired and with full hearts.

Natural and manmade rock formations (photo/Jason Rafal)

More beautiful coastline (photo/Jason Rafal)

A good day to be on a boat (photo/Jason Rafal)

After a wonderful weekend with friends, we flew to Porto, in the northern part of the country. Jason and I have been wanting to go to Porto for years, and we fell in love with the city immediately. It’s beautiful, interesting, welcoming, covered in tiles, and a little run down. It has so many tiny, amazing restaurants, coffee shops, and antique shops.

Colorful buildings and cobbled streets (photo/Jason Rafal)

I loved this green roof/garden on top of an outdoor mall area (photo/Jason Rafal)

We booked a free walking tour for our first morning in Porto, which is something I always recommend (though they’re not actually free, because you do need to be a good person and tip the guide who is showing you around). Our guide, an Italian expat, walked us around some of the churches and government buildings and gave us context about the city. While it was never the capital of Portugal, Porto was the center of merchant power in the country. They’ve always been anti-authority, whether it’s the authority of the church, or the king, or the guidelines presented by UNESCO (apparently they’re constantly putting their status and funding at risk by building new, non-historic things in the historical center).

Looking up at the Igreja do Carmo (photo/Jason Rafal)

A very narrow church at the edge of the old walled city (photo/Jason Rafal)

The view from the Miradouro da Vitória (photo/Jason Rafal)

Even the more modern buildings are colorful - I wish we would go that direction in the U.S. (photo/Jason Rafal)

I don't even know what's happening here...seems like art, or a metaphor (photo/Jason Rafal)

Porto is famous for its iconic blue tile buildings, and while I had assumed that blue was tied to the city’s identity from the beginning, our walking tour guide told us that blue is used most frequently because it fades the least in direct sunlight. In the San Bento train station, which you can see below, the walls on the left that never got direct sunlight had many more colors in the tiled scenes.

The beautiful Sao Bento train station (photo/Jason Rafal)

The dragon is the symbol of Porto - from what I can find, it symbolizes heroism, resistance, and the city’s invicta (unconquered, invincible) identity. Paired with this dramatic symbolism, I very much enjoyed the statues that featured little cat-sized dragons sitting on people’s heads.

A statue of a man with a dragon on his head to represent Porto (photo/Jason Rafal)

Beautiful tile everywhere (photo/Jason Rafal)

Our favorite coffee shop of the trip (photo/Jason Rafal)

We spent a lovely evening at the dramatic Casa da Música, where we toured the building (highly recommended if you’re a fan of weird brutalist architecture, which I’m not really, but it was still cool) and then saw a fado performance.

Brutalist vibes at the Casa da Música (photo/Jason Rafal)

The main concert hall (photo/Jason Rafal)

As usual, some of the time we enjoyed the most was just spent wandering around, seeing parks, viewpoints, and buildings along the way.

The beautiful Jardins do Palácio de Cristal (photo/Jason Rafal)

One of the many free-ranging birds at the gardens (photo/Jason Rafal)

The crowd taking in the sunset next to the Parque das Virtudes (photo/Jason Rafal)

My favorite view in the city (photo/Jason Rafal)

Some sort of metaphor about layers of paint (photo/Jason Rafal)

One of the top attractions in Porto is Livraria Lello, a bookstore that is said to have inspired J.K. Rowling’s description of Flourish and Blott’s in Harry Potter. It’s a really beautiful bookstore, but for me it’s not worth the pain of dealing with the lines and crowds of people trying to get perfect photos. I’m sure it’s better in the offseason, but if you do want to go in the summer, try to reserve the 9 am slot (days in advance) and be there by about 8:30 if you want to get in quickly.

The insane crowd outside of Livraria Lello (photo/Jason Rafal)

The admittedly beautiful staircase and ceiling in the bookstore (photo/Jason Rafal)

I enjoyed the contrast between the modern books for sale at the bottom and the ones to look old in the upper cases (photo/Jason Rafal)

Corners (photo/Jason Rafal)

While I was napping, Jason went to explore the Portuguese Photography Center at the Cadeia da Relação, a former prison. The building houses photography exhibits along with an incredibly extensive collection of cameras, mostly from a professor.

A hallway looking into the prison photography museum (photo/Jason Rafal)

The prison is a key location in Porto’s most famous love story, and the two lovers are immortalized in stone in the courtyard. Camilo Castelo Branco and Ana Plácido were two writers who met at a dance and were friends and then lovers for many years. Eventually, Ana left her husband for Camilo. When the affair became public, Ana was forced into a convent, but then escaped and returned to Camilo. Then, because her bitter husband filed an adultery lawsuit against them, they were both imprisoned in the Cadeia da Relação, where Camilo wrote his most famous novel, Amor de Perdição (Doomed Love). They were eventually released, and much later the prison was turned into a photography museum, but the story and the statue remain.

The doomed couple - I'm not sure about why there's such a difference in clothing (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking out over the river from Torreão do Jardim do Palácio (photo/Jason Rafal)

The very clean and modern Mercado do Bolhão (photo/Jason Rafal)

The ornately decorated Chapel of Souls (photo/Jason Rafal)

I love a green wall (photo/Jason Rafal)

Wandering near the waterfront (photo/Jason Rafal)

On our walking tour, our guide told us a joke about how the best thing about Gaia, the city across the river, was its beautiful view of Porto. On our last day in the city, we headed over the pedestrian and transit-only bridge to the Jardim do Morro. It was indeed a beautiful last view of the city.

The view back across the river from Gaia (photo/Jason Rafal)

One more view of Porto (photo/Jason Rafal)

We really enjoyed spending more time in Portugal - it’s easy to navigate, beautiful, and has great food. Lisbon, Porto, and the southern coast were all worth the trip (though I am, as usual with European destinations, jealous of the ease with which east coasters can visit - it’s a trek from Seattle). Next time we travel to Portugal, my top priorities are visiting Sintra and spending some time in nature. Until then!

Roadtrip to the Land of Giants

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In the first half of 2024, we took a break from international travel and took a road trip closer to home. I had been wanting to drive down to the southern Oregon coast and visit the California redwoods. The trip ended up being about 1400 miles over seven days, and we stopped at eight state parks, two national parks, a national monument, and a state scenic area.

Our first stop was a campsite in Sunset Bay State Park, where we set up camp and then spent some time hiking along the beach.

Sunset Bay beach at low tide (photo/Jason Rafal)

A giant culvert to the beach (photo/Jason Rafal)

There are a lot of interesting transcontinental journeys that began or ended in Oregon (photo/Jason Rafal)

Giant leaves on the edge of the forest (photo/Jason Rafal)

Mud obstacle course (photo/Jason Rafal)

Cape Arago Lighthouse (photo/Jason Rafal)

In the morning, we hiked down toward Cape Arago, where I had heard we could find some sea lions. The hike started with plants, birds, and a surprise deer on the beach.

A pretty coastal flower (photo/Jason Rafal)

A deer ran across the beach on our morning hike (photo/Jason Rafal)

A cute Swainson’s Thrush (photo/Jason Rafal)

We heard them before we saw them, and once we got to the Simpson Reef lookout, we could see dozens of sea lions lounging on the beach. We could also see a lot of them swimming around the area.

Sea lions lounging on the beach at Simpson Reef (photo/Jason Rafal)

Lots of sea lions playing and lounging (photo/Jason Rafal)

We were looking for sea lions, but we also had a great view of lots of birds (we saw a crazy number of bald eagles during this trip) and some very sleepy harbor seals.

A bald eagle flies over sleeping harbor seals (photo/Jason Rafal)

After our morning hike, we packed up and headed down the coast to a room we rented for the night in Brookings, Oregon. On the way, we made a few stops for short hikes and pretty coastal views.

Afternoon sun at Natural Bridges - you can see a person on top of the left one if you squint (photo/Jason Rafal)

Our VRBO was very close to Harris Beach State Park, which has a beautiful rocky beach.

On Harris Beach (photo/Jason Rafal)

The house we were staying at had amazing views of the ocean, and we spent a lot of time that evening watching the orange sunset over the rocks and water.

Sunset views at our place (photo/Jason Rafal)

Sunset from our VRBO (photo/Jason Rafal)

Watching pelicans from our deck (photo/Jason Rafal)

We spent a beautiful morning at the beach before driving to California. The plants and animals that live among the rocks are so fun to watch.

The lovely Secret Beach (photo/Jason Rafal)

Morning light on a very vegetation-covered rock (photo/Jason Rafal)

Pigeon guillemots perched on a rock face (photo/Jason Rafal)

By the afternoon, we were hiking among giants in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. I love hanging out with these trees; their sheer size and the amount that has happened during their lifetimes is both amazing and comforting to me. They’re very difficult to photograph, but looking up is a good way to convey the feeling of being so very small.

Looking up at the giant redwoods (photo/Jason Rafal)

A very large tree (photo/Jason Rafal)

A very cool plant tunnel next to a fallen redwood (photo/Jason Rafal)

We spent the next couple of nights camping in Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park, with very little service and lots of big trees.

Very large trees (photo/Jason Rafal)

A delicate flower in the forest (photo/Jason Rafal)

A cute little squirrel (photo/Jason Rafal)

I love how many plants a fallen tree in the forest can support (photo/Jason Rafal)

In my happy place (photo/Jason Rafal)

A banana slug with a leaf hat (photo/Jason Rafal)

When we were driving to the beach to have lunch on the second day, we saw a sign for a skunk cabbage trail. I love skunk cabbage; there’s a ton of it where I grew up in Crested Butte during the summer, and I’ve never seen a large quantity outside of that. We didn’t see as much as we’d hoped for, but it was still a beautiful trail covered with ferns.

Looking at the ferns and skunk cabbage (photo/Jason Rafal)

A plant growing through the leaves of another plant (photo/Jason Rafal)

The next day, we drove to central Oregon, stopping at Crater Lake on the way. There was still quite a bit of snow, and the Rim Road isn’t open until July, but we drove to Discovery Point and walked around a bit to take some pictures. I didn’t have a lot of expectations, but the lake was really cool, with its absurdly deep blue water and snowy ridges on all sides.

A sunny day at a snowy Crater Lake (photo/Jason Rafal)

We kept an eye out for the Clark’s Nutcracker, which lives at Crater Lake, and we saw them pretty quickly. They’re very loud, fluffy birds with big black beaks.

A Clark's nutcracker perched on a dead tree (photo/Jason Rafal)

The nutcrackers, while larger than I expected, were adorable and fluffy (photo/Jason Rafal)

Our next couple of days were spent in Bend, where Jason worked some and we did some small afternoon hikes at Smith Rock and Newberry National Volcanic Monument.

Dramatic views at Smith Rock State Park (photo/Jason Rafal)

More beautiful views (photo/Jason Rafal)

We liked seeing the chalk from climbers on the sides of the rock face (photo/Jason Rafal)

Our last day in central Oregon was also very clear, and we had great views of the snow-capped peaks of the Sisters, Broken Top, and Bachelor. We went out to the Lava Butte lookout, where we hiked around the very apocalyptic-looking lava flow area.

The view from the trail at the Lava Butte lookout, with the Sisters in the background (photo/Jason Rafal)

The apocalyptic scene from the caldera (photo/Jason Rafal)

Little lava plants (photo/Jason Rafal)

A little black lava lizard (photo/Jason Rafal)

Overall it was a great trip, with a variety of beautiful landscapes and a lot of lovely hikes. It was fun to get to explore more of the Pacific Northwest, and to hang out with some very old, very large trees.

2023 in Review

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2023 was perhaps not as balanced as we’d been planning originally - we ended up going to 8 countries, 7 of them in the last 6 months of the year. While it’s been amazing to travel so much, we’ve been missing having more time in Seattle, and it’s been really nice to take a look back at some of our local adventures, especially in the first half of the year.

Classic Puget Sound views - mountains and sailboats (photo/Jason Rafal)

Jason continues lusting after sailboats (photo/Jason Rafal)

Testing out a new lens on Caprica (photo/Jason Rafal)

In February, we went to San Diego with friends for a long weekend and spent some time soaking in the beautiful sun and eating a lot of Mexican food.

Looking for fun shore things at Torrey Pines (photo/Jason Rafal)

Many shorebirds (photo/Jason Rafal)

I always enjoy large piles of sea lions (photo/Jason Rafal)

Sunset silhouettes (photo/Jason Rafal)

We also were able to fit in some camping over the summer, and we used our little drone to get some amazing pictures of the Washington wilderness. I had fun learning to fly the drone and clumsily edit together footage.

Looking down at our campsite - see if you can spot us (photo/Jason Rafal)

I love this wilderness so much (photo/Jason Rafal)

A second view because I couldn’t pick one (photo/Jason Rafal)

This is what it looks like to learn to fly a drone (photo/Jason Rafal)

More experimentation with a new lens (photo/Jason Rafal)

The joys of camping (photo/Jason Rafal)

For Fourth of July weekend we drove up to Canada, where we stayed at a lakeside guest house outside of Vancouver and spent a couple of days relaxing and taking in amazing water views.

Our relaxing sunset view (photo/Jason Rafal)

We also found some beautiful hikes in the area. British Columbia never ceases to amaze with its beauty.

Dramatic sunlight at Shannon Falls (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking south down Howe Sound (photo/Jason Rafal)

Jason got much more into birding this year, and he had fun learning about species of birds and how best to photograph them.

Seagulls are always being jerks and trying to steal things (photo/Jason Rafal)

A cormorant with a treat (photo/Jason Rafal)

A beautiful cedar waxwing (photo/Jason Rafal)

A very noisy songbird (photo/Jason Rafal)

Birds on a line (photo/Jason Rafal)

Glaring at the camera (photo/Jason Rafal)

This heron was preening itself and releasing its feathers into the wind (photo/Jason Rafal)

A collection of shorebirds (photo/Jason Rafal)

A little owl peering down at us (photo/Jason Rafal)

As always, there were also lots of fun plants and animals.

A pastoral bee (photo/Jason Rafal)

More flowers and bees (photo/Jason Rafal)

A rat in a tree (photo/Jason Rafal)

Weird little flower leaf things (photo/Jason Rafal)

We have so many of these pictures from around Washington and I love them all (photo/Jason Rafal)

One of posing marmots in Mt. Rainier National Park (photo/Jason Rafal)

We went camping in Oregon with friends during the Perseid meteor shower, and while we weren’t in the best place to see a ton of meteors, it was incredibly peaceful to just lay on our backs and marvel at the stars.

The stars I always miss in Seattle (photo/Jason Rafal)

Riding a bike through a beautiful Oregon forest (photo/Jason Rafal)

We had friends visit from Colorado, and we showed them around both the wilderness and the city.

Martin opens some sort of geocache (photo/Jason Rafal)

Salmon at the Ballard fish ladder (photo/Jason Rafal)

Watching the sometimes chaos of the Ballard Locks (photo/Jason Rafal)

Inviting our friends to sunsets at Golden Gardens (photo/Jason Rafal)

Moody Seattle waterfront (photo/Jason Rafal)

We were gone for a lot of the second half of the year, but it was an amazing autumn, and we spent much of our time in town on walks and hikes to marvel at the fall colors.

Fall mood spider (photo/Jason Rafal)

An art installation at the Arboretum (photo/Jason Rafal)

The Cascade lake colors are always amazing (photo/Jason Rafal)

An alpine lake with a lookout far above (photo/Jason Rafal)

If you squint, you can see the side of Mt. Rainier in the background (photo/Jason Rafal)

Light (photo/Jason Rafal)

So many tiny mushrooms (photo/Jason Rafal)

An incredible tree completely enveloped by other plants (photo/Jason Rafal)

I will forever love all of the moss here (photo/Jason Rafal)

Moody beach days (photo/Jason Rafal)

That autumn sun and those yellow leaves (photo/Jason Rafal)

Green Lake is always a pretty magical place, but fall is an especially special time there (photo/Jason Rafal)

As always, thanks for reading along with our adventures this year, and we hope you’ve enjoyed the pictures. We’re going for more balance in 2024, but as always, we’ll just have to see what life brings us. We feel so lucky to live in this beautiful place and be able to explore so much!

Us on a backpacking trip in 2023 (yes, Jason is wearing a bug suit) (photo/Martin Brandt)

The Anglo-French Holidays

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When our friend Bella got a new job in France, we decided (with a couple of other friends) to visit her for New Year’s. When we got a deal on flights to London, we decided to add a couple of days in London, since Jason knows a lot about England and loves their media but had never been.

It’s always interesting traveling over holidays, and we didn’t expect London to close down quite as much as it did for Christmas. Luckily we had a friend living in the city who had us over for a delicious dinner (thank you, Sam!), and we spent the next couple of days wandering around and enjoying some of the sights (and even a little sunshine). If you have a specific list of things you want to see and restaurants you want to visit, I wouldn’t recommend a Christmas trip, but if you just want to wander and have a generally weird experience (and see where the locals actually hang out then they’re not working), it’s not bad.

Classic telephone booths in an empty Smithfield Market (photo/Jason Rafal)

The Christmas scene at St. Paul’s Cathedral (photo/Jason Rafal)

A nice collection of architecture (photo/Jason Rafal)

A beautiful mural (photo/Jason Rafal)

The cathedral dome through the city at night (photo/Jason Rafal)

I wonder if you can monitor depression in London using this box (photo/Jason Rafal)

The Tate Modern, which we don’t love the architecture of (photo/Jason Rafal)

The Millennium Bridge, my personal favorite (photo/Jason Rafal)

A multi-layered tower with a very shiny clock (photo/Jason Rafal)

A sunstar at the Tower of London (photo/Jason Rafal)

The locals were clustered around certain parts of the city, like London Bridge (photo/Jason Rafal)

A weird pointy building with a cool reflection (photo/Jason Rafal)

An empty Leadenhall Market (photo/Jason Rafal)

It was pretty cool to see some of the places so empty (photo/Jason Rafal)

There were several of these snowmen around…smiling at us (photo/Jason Rafal)

The London Eye was also very busy, with a pop-up market and lots of strolling (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking over at Westminster (photo/Jason Rafal)

The clocktower (photo/Jason Rafal)

Chinatown in London (photo/Jason Rafal)

On the one day we were in London when attractions were open, we took the train out to Kew Gardens, since we always like to go to a nice garden. It didn’t disappoint. There are two old-school glass greenhouses and one very cool modern one, and lots of beautiful grounds in between. It would be an amazing place to spend a day during the summer when it’s a little warmer, and it could keep you occupied for hours.

An indoor waterfall at the amazing Palm House (photo/Jason Rafal)

A flower that looks like it was sculpted (photo/Jason Rafal)

Scenes from Africa (photo/Jason Rafal)

We took the stairs up to the greenhouse catwalk, where we could look down onto the greenery below (photo/Jason Rafal)

The modern greenhouse was composed of many half levels, and it was a kind of maze to go through it. It was really fun to wander through, and there was always something new around every corner.

This plant was amazing and completely unlike anything I’ve seen before (photo/Jason Rafal)

Many spikes (photo/Jason Rafal)

An incredible assortment of plants (photo/Jason Rafal)

A tiny shrimp in its tank habitat (photo/Jason Rafal)

This is a Brugmansia, and I love them (photo/Jason Rafal)

The other attraction we decided to visit was the Victoria and Albert Museum, which was even more enjoyable than I expected. It’s composed of everything that wouldn’t necessarily go into another collection; it’s a museum of chaos, and we loved it. We wandered around between rooms of jewelry, metalwork, statues, glasswork, paintings, and all sorts of other things.

A globe that had not yet discovered the Pacific Northwest (photo/Jason Rafal)

A chaotic room - David, Greek goddesses, religious paintings…and a balcony? (photo/Jason Rafal)

A dog that is very proud of itself (and maybe still in danger?) (photo/Jason Rafal)

A very moody room (photo/Jason Rafal)

After our days in London, we headed to Toulouse to see Bella in her new home. We met Ian and Kelly there for a few days of eating, drinking, walking, partying, and very little sleeping.

Reunited and holding hands on the train (photo/Jason Rafal)

Our first day in Toulouse, we actually went to Carcassonne, a medieval town and fortress a short train ride away. Its name has a fantastic potential origin story in which Charlemagne was besieging the city for years, and when food and water were running out, Dame Carcas took the last wheat and fed it to the last pig, and then threw the pig over the wall at Charlemagne. Seeing that the city still had enough food to waste both wheat and pigs, he lifted the siege, and the city was free. Dame Carcas was clearly a master of game theory and deserves to have a city named after her.

Looking up at the Cité de Carcassonne from the bridge (photo/Jason Rafal)

The outer wall and a good example of the choice to replace the traditionally terra cotta roofs with slate, a decision Jason hates (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking up from the drawbridge (photo/Jason Rafal)

An intensely dedicated window display (photo/Jason Rafal)

Inside the city walls (photo/Jason Rafal)

From atop the castle walls (photo/Jason Rafal)

The cars in the yards in the medieval driveways were a bit odd (photo/Jason Rafal)

Walking through the lower town of Carcassonne (photo/Jason Rafal)

Over the next few days, we explored Toulouse, which is lovely. It’s known as the Pink City because of the brick color used in much of its architecture, which contrasts beautifully with the sky. It’s also the center of the aerospace industry in Europe. The city is transected by rivers and canals, so there’s always some lovely water nearby to walk along.

One of the street markets (photo/Jason Rafal)

The aftermath of the street market (photo/Jason Rafal)

The Japanese Garden (photo/Jason Rafal)

A photo from our trip, or from a moody noir film (photo/Jason Rafal)

While shopping we walked by…something happening with one of the buildings (photo/Jason Rafal)

A market and the capitol building (photo/Jason Rafal)

A gorgeous sunset from the river (photo/Jason Rafal)

The inside of the Couvent des Jacobins, which was quite beautiful (photo/Jason Rafal)

During the French Revolution, this stone was white washed over, and it’s now partially restored (photo/Jason Rafal)

Bella and Ian in Saint Stephen's Cathedral (photo/Jason Rafal)

We also went inside the capitol building, where Bella had heard good things about the art. There was an incredible amount of painting on the walls and ceiling, and lots of statues as well.

A very moody person (photo/Jason Rafal)

The happy, pastoral wedding room (photo/Jason Rafal)

A long room of art (photo/Jason Rafal)

Some of the amazing ceiling (photo/Jason Rafal)

Quiet mornings in Toulouse (photo/Jason Rafal)

Train crash art? (photo/Jason Rafal)

More lovely pink architecture (photo/Jason Rafal)

It was a whirlwind trip, and it was so nice to see friends and explore new places. I’m sure we’ll be back to both London and Toulouse, and next time we’ll probably see some more tourists there.