MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It's already Christmas!

And I have thought of preparing something special for you. So here it is. (I hope it works :)

Christmas2009 Pilar

And now... something special I have found for all the Friends Forever:

Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Joyeux Noël et Bonne Année
Vrolijk Kerstfeest en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar
Nollaig Shona Dhuit
Froehliche Weihnachten und ein gluckliches Neues Jahr
God Jul og Godt Nyttar
Gledileg Jol og Farsaelt Komandi ar
Boas Festas e um feliz Ano Novo
Shenoraavor Nor Dari yev Pari Gaghand
Mo'adim Lesimkha. Shana Tova
Shinnen Omedeto. Kurisumasu Omedeto

With much love

Japan revisited

As you know, I've come back to Japan!

Last August Fernando and I went to Japan for 2 weeks and it was really impressive. Since I came back from our tour to Japan in 2003 I had always thought of going back together with Fernando. I wanted him to see what I had seen and I also wanted to be there again. Well... we could do so last summer. We could visit places like Kyoto, Hiroshima, Miyajima and of course Tokyo, but also other places like Kanazawa, Shirakawago, Takayama, Nikko, Koyasan where we stayed in a Buddhist monastery, Hakone where we could see, or I'd better say "imagine", Mount Fuji and enjoy and natural "onsen", spring, which was really a delight, ending with the traditional... karaoke, of course! Everything was absolutely fantastic.

In Tokyo we stayed in a hotel next to "Tokyo Prince Hotel", in fact it was from the same company and its name is Tokyo Prince Park. We had splendid views and from there we could even see our former hotel, the Shinto shrine which was next to it and... yes!... Tokyo Tower!!! So many memories!

We were very lucky to even meet Akiko-san! She took us to a very trendy restaurant in Tokyo, Gonpachi, where Quentin Tarantino got his inspiration for one of the scenes in "Kill Bill". That was fun! Then she took us to Shibuya Crossing, which appears in the film "Lost In Translation" and where thousands of people cross every day and as she is the best guide in Japan she knew were exactly to go to observe this "phenomenon" perfectly. In Shibuya we could also see the statue of Hachiko, the famous dog whose story has just been taken into a film by Richard Gere. So you can see that it was a complete tour! Thanks dear Akiko-san for a wonderful evening!

Everything was really special and be sure that I thought of all of you. In fact I must say that somehow you were also there.

I will upload some pictures somewhere in the web where you can easily take a look if you don't have anything else more interesting to do but meanwhile I am showing you some here.

Friends Forever Reunion 2009

I know... I know... I promised to write something about the FF Reunion 2009 and so far I haven't. But here it is a picture and I will write something... sometime...