Japan Part 2: Tokyo Shots

Well the first part was largely photos of our trip to Fuji-san and Hakone. This part will be more about Tokyo and part 3 will be Kyoto. Part of our holidays is always spent hunting down watch and jewelry boutiques. We like to go and see things that we can't see here. We did of course go into some of the boutiques that are available here just for a look see and catalogues. One boutique that I have wanted to go to for a very long time is Harry Winston. I was very excited when I learnt there was one in Ginza. After booking an appointment we went and saw the jewels. Can't say that I was totally awestruck by what I saw....I will probably get in trouble here but a diamond is a diamond, sure the designs were pretty but where was the colour? I saw a 5 carat yellow diamond(of corse I tried it on) which was about A$1.5million and there was a very pretty cross with a pink tourmaline and diamonds, and that was about all the colour I saw. Felt a little dissappointed when we left. But I did score a couple of catalogues. Boucheron on the other hand was a mind blower. Such fantastic pieces and so much colour. Got a catalogue from them too. Went to Mikimoto and their rival Tasaki. Very lovely pieces. We missed the high end jewelry floor at both due to time. Catalogues from both. Did Cartier, Tiffany, Chaumet and Bulgari got catalogues from Chaumet, Tiffany and Cartier, forgot to get one at Bulgari. Any way how about some photos from Tokyo.... Day and evening shots from our hotel room Day and evening shots of Ginza Cartier Boutique Ginza Harry Winston Boutique Ginza Umm....let me guess...Bulgari Boutique Ginza Asakusa Shrine Meiji Jingu Shrine Shibuya...Remember this building from "Lost In Translation"? We also went to Roppongi (for the Hard Rock Cafe), Omotesando, Aoyama, Nakano and Shinjuku. A few people Rene knows who work or have worked in Tokyo are quite surprised by how much we got around. Suica cards is the best for getting around on the trains. That is it for part 2. Catch you again for part 3.

Konnichiwa!! Back from Japan Part 1

On the 29th of May Rene and I left Sydney for our first visit to Japan. We flew in to Narita Airport for our first destination of Tokyo. We arrived in the evenign and just made the last Airport Limousine bus for our hotel with one minute to spare.
We stayed at the Park Hotel in Shimbashi which was very handy to Ginza and many of the train lines. Our first full day in Tokyo we went to Ginza, Nakano and Shinjuku. we were on a watch shop hunt. Once again Rene was armed with addresses of many watch boutiques while I was ready for the big jewellery boutiques.

Tokyo was fantastic with so much to see, do, eat and drink. The biggest surprise was that food wasn't as expensive as we were expecting. Breakfast was usually around A$12-A$14 for both of us, Lunch was from A$15-A$20 and dinner around A$40. You could spend more if you wanted to but generally prices were much the same as here. The big shock was the alcohol prices in bottle shops generally around 1/2 the price of alcohol here eg a bottle of Cointreau cost around A$19 and Dom Perignon Champagne was around A$125... We know what to buy next time

In one of the back streets of Ginza we found the best little coffee shop where on a very cold day we warmed up with a cointreau coffee and cake, not cheap but certainly warmed us up. This was followed by a trawl through Bulgari, Cartier Tiffany and more of the Ginza area.

On our 3rd day we woke up to find the temperature was -2 celsius but the day was clear and we looked out our hotel room window to see Fuji-San in full view.

Then we went down to catch our tour to Fuji and Hakone






After Fuji went to Hakone which is a hot spring area. There are hotels and Ryokans dotted around and a gorgeous crater lake(Lake shinoko) that we went for a short river cruise on before heading up Mt Komatagake and a cable car trip to the top. From the top we had fantastic views of the coast, the lake and Mt Fuji.











That is it for part one. More to come in part 2 including some short videos.
Thanks for having a look and catch you soon!!
Ciao!!!!

Swap Pendant for Carolyn

Well finally here is the pendant that I mentioned int e previous blo. Have also included one taken by Carolyn of the earrings and the pendant together. The swap theme was include a pearl. The pendant is Argentium silver, Apatite, Aquamarine and a black pearl.





Thanks for having a look!! Catch you soon!