I Stopped At...

2012/01/23 Though it`s early, snow was there for the second time this year. We are more than overjoyed to see this beautiful snowy night today.. Too bad, my window view is covered with a little yard of trees so sunlight or even normal street light does not reach my windows. So my snowy view can barely be captured from my poor little camera.. Why  is this particular snowing important to me...??  you may wonder. :) That is because this would be my final snowing in Kanagawa. This would be the last snowing I may see from my hostel windows.. This is how it looks from my fourth floor window. Sorry for the poor quality of the captures. Enjoy.. Hopefully there would be more snow tomorrow and a better view. All Rights Reserved

 2011/08/03     I was in Hikone of Shiga prefecture for over a week. It was a business trip so unfortunately we did not have enough time to enjoy the area. As the hotel was just kilometers away from the famous Hikone Castle, my friend and I took the free time on the way back after work to drop by the castle. It was past 5o`clock in the evening so the entrance was officially closed. But the in-charge personnel were kind enough to let us go up and enjoy the castle premises.   This is one old fashioned gateway to the castle. There were several gates and entrances to the premises.  This was the second entrance and the photo was taken from above. In the far end , the bell can be seen. This is yet being rung on occasions in Hikone. The castle premises were joined by several bridges like this one. In early stages there had been a mechanism to raise the bridges when needed. But now they are supported bu some wooden pi...