Good Food and Views are Worth the Journey
Yosemite National Park is one of those places where I wish I had accomplished more on my visit. There is so much I want to do and I leave thinking I could have organized myself a bit better. If you’re like me and can only allocate a short visit for your first trip, here are some tips that I think may help you make more of a limited time there.
Do’s:
Here are some photos from my walk in Kanazawa’s Kenroku-en, known as one of Japan’s three great gardens. I was there in December when there was a light dusting of snow on the ground. It must also be beautiful now in May with the flowers in bloom.
This itinerary accompanies the narrative in the blog Kanazawa - Little Kyoto, Big Garden, Great Seafood. Read the blog for more detail.
Access: Kanazawa sits on the west coast of Central Honshu. The nearest airport is Komatsu - around 40 minutes drive from the town centre or one hour by airport bus. If you’ve flown into Tokyo, however, do try the bullet train to Kanazawa, which takes around two and a half hours. As with other cities in Japan, Kanazawa is well connected...
Now that the bullet train between Tokyo and Kanazawa is running (started March 2015), reaching this seafood haven on Japan’s west coast is much easier. Easily slotted into a trip between Kyoto and Tokyo, I think there’s enough to fill at least a one full day or two day stopover - two nights best, so you can squeeze in a couple of dinners. Kanazawa has been referred to as “Little Kyoto” due to areas which retain their Edo era look but I think the best reason to visit (besides for the...
As I prepared to write this note on Benu, I recall thinking after our meal that the restaurant was certainly worthy of its Michelin stars (two) at the time. Since I was there in October 2014, the restaurant has been awarded its third star. I think this is obviously great recognition for Chef Corey Lee’s efforts to lift and modernize fine Asian food without losing aspects of the dish that people love. While Benu may be classified as fusion (it’s described as ‘new American fare’ on...