Weekly Photo Challenge #7--Vacation Edition

I am so happy to be doing this as I missed last week's edition. This is Yumeko's Weekly Photo Challenge and her vacation edition is here. I am actually pretty busy for the next few weeks as my mother-in-law is staying with me, I'm down one worker at work and at the beginning of August, I'll be having a home-stay student from Japan stay with me for 6 weeks. This challenge happens to be a good one for me to do since I just got back from a trip to Japan and the pictures are up on my computer.

1. Somewhere you visited on your last vacation

In April the husband and I went to Japan. The bulk of our vacation was spent in Fukushima since our oldest son lives there with his family. This is Aizu-Wakamatsu Station, which is relatively close to where he lives.

Going to Japan in the spring time is synonymous with Sakura.

2. Something you bought on your last vacation

I wanted to try to find a couple of pictures that I didn't post on blog yet, but I will have to reuse one of them since I am really happy that I bought it...Addiction eyeshadow.

I also bought my favorite mochi snack--Ichigo Choco Daifuku.

3. Something you ate on your last vacation

There is so much good food in Japan and we ate very well. One of the things that we ate is something that I probably wouldn't have tried on my own. We went to Sendai to a restaurant, Date no Gyutan, which is famous for its cow tongue. While it doesn't sound very appetizing, this restaurant cooked it to perfection. It was very tasty and tender. We got the plate that in which the gyutan (cow tongue) was cooked two ways--one was salt flavor and the other was shoyu flavor. We agreed that the shoyu flavoring was delicious. Equally delicious was the ox tail soup that came with the meal.

We went to an onsen hotel which served very traditional style dinner. Our family of 6 people was served in our own individual tatami dining room. There were several courses to the meal, but this was the main course.

Of course you can't go to Japan and not eat sushi. My friend's family had us over for dinner and her mom presented us with the biggest sushi boat that I have ever seen. The variety of sushi and the freshness of the ingredients made for very delicious sushi.

4. A ticket/bill/receipt from your last vacation

This was the only picture that I didn't have on the computer already. I searched around and found these that I thought would be interesting--a ticket to Tsuruga Castle, a ticket to Abukuma Caves and a Daiso receipt. Loved that store!

5. The number one place where YOU live, that you think people should visit

Diamond Head is always a famous landmark when people think of Hawaii. It is a nice hike to the top of Diamond Head and the view from the top is fantastic! Ala Moana Beach Park is also a nice place to go, it's a pretty calm beach and safe for those with young children. A plus is that it's right across the street from Ala Moana Shopping Center.

By the way, I took these pictures in the above photo collage from my friend's condo on the 38th floor, which is located right across the street from Ala Moana Beach Park. I used my iPhone 4S and I'm quite pleased with how well the pictures came out.

If you also decide to do this challenge, please let me know in the comments the link to your post. I'll be happy to check it out.

*Kat*