End-of-2016 Osaka/Kyoto Trip!

Hi guys, it's 2017! We have a brand new year ahead of us and I am so excited about what this year has in store. I pray that this year be filled with blessings and happiness.

To end the previous year, however, I paid the Kansai region a visit! I forgot to bring my camera, sadly. I had my tripod with me but not the more important thing... Haha. So all of my pictures are taken from my phone. Sorry if they aren't that great!

In Osaka, we enjoyed Universal Studios Japan. The highlight was Hogsmeade, of course! I bought so many goodies and had so much fun!

There were so many people!

And it's impossible to be alone in a picture! Haha

Beedo beedo beedo!

I just thought it was funny because my name and this shop’s name is almost the same.

Wonderful views!

But there's also the danger of dinosaurs lurking.

And... Hogwarts!!! The entire area was captivating!

And which house will I be sorted in?

Pottermore decided that a long time ago, I'm a Slytherin!!! The Muggle behind me is a Gryffindor. Boo. Haha.

Of course, I also got myself a wand. There are three types I saw. One was a basic wand, another with a glowing end when you flick it, and the third one is"magical", it has a sensor on its tip and you can cast spells with it in some spots around the area. If Bellatrix's wand was available in the "magical" version I would have bought that! But it wasn't and I didn't want any other character wands, so I bought an original wand called Hazel. Throughout the day, I didn't see any other park-goer with the same wand so I was really glad!

Here is "part" of our loot. We also got two Butterbeer mugs (I recommend Butterbeer cold!) and a Marauder's Map mug--it changes color to show footsteps when a hot drink is poured in!

The next day, we went to Kaiyukan. It's one of the biggest aquariums in Japan!

I was waiting for this Penguin to do SOMETHING... but it didn't! lol

Jellyfish are always beautiful to photograph. ;)

Excuse my very tired face... but there's always time for Sylvanian Families! Haha. After Kaiyukan, I went to see Kyoto's Mori no Ouchi. (But this photo is in a different shop, I REALLY want one of these 20cm dolls).

We had a lovely steak dinner and we prepared to leave Osaka for Kyoto.

We mostly visited Shrines and Temples in Kyoto, and photos can't really be taken inside so there aren't a lot of photos I took.

We visited the famous Fushimi-Inari Taisha first. This marked the beginning of the numerous temples we visited in a two-day span! Haha.

The Ema was the shape of a fox, Inari Shrine's god.

People drew funny fox faces on their emas.

This is of the smaller pillars. It is impossible to be alone because of the number of people so I couldn't take a proper picture of the bigger toris. Nevertheless, it was very beautiful! It was kind of magical passing through them and seeing the sunlight leaking through the cracks in betwen.

A summary of SOME of the temples we visited! Again, photos can't be taken inside. ;(

And on day two, we went to Arashiyama. It's famous for it's bamboo walls! At this point, the 16gb memory of my phone is full... So I coulnd't take so many pictures... T_T I know it was a terrible choice buying 16gb. XD

The trip was very lovely. At the end of it, we stayed over at my boyfriend's parent's house and had traditional ozouni (new year's food). I wonder what we'll be up to this year!

xoxo,

Jona