Okay fair warning! My trip to Japan has absolutely nothing to do with needlepoint! We were all stitchers, wether it be needlepoint, embroidery, Japanese embroidery, counted work, etc. So as long as I share with you my amazing trip and it will take a while, there is no needlepoint involved!

It was considered an embroidery tour and we had many activities revolving around stitchy type things. I did bring a few projects with me, but I did absolutely no stitching! By the time I got back to the hotel at night, I was too tired! So watched a little Japanese tv, checked email and Facebook, had some tea and crashed.

I do have hundreds and hundred of pictures…seriously! and it takes a while to sort through them all, get them cropped and adjusted and especially now that my computer is really aging. Actually I am not even sure I can get finish the first day all in one posting.

Okay I’m really in Japan and I barely slept as I couldn’t wait to get my day started!

These were the plates that were available for breakfast. Wow the possibilities were endless! Dozens and dozens of choices both Western style breakast and Japanese.

Just a little taste of a few things, most of which I enjoyed. I would try a few different things every morning as I am a very adventerous eater!

During our trip here we experiened every type of public transportation from bus to train to bullet train, subway to cable car to street car, rickshaw to ferry and what else I am missing? And I can’t always remember which one we did when…anyhow Monday morning found us off and running to view the Aoi Matsuri! Matsuri is Japanese for festival and this is one of Kyoto’s three most famous ones. It takes place on May 15th and is a celebration for aoi leaves, a species of wild ginger which are used to decorate the costumes of the participants.

The grounds are just beautiful! and in the windows you can see kimono-clad women watching the parade.

What a way to start our trip! We stayed for but an hour or so as we need to get to our yuzen dying class. In order to really enjoy the rest of the day, I will save that for the next posting! which will be sometime next week as I head for Dallas to take a class at Creative Stitches and Gifts, instead of going to market…see that’s needlepoint and that’s for another time!

and for now I will say sayonara…