Utsubo Park (or what we saw of it) was fairly small. There’s a lot of other foliage, but we naturally gravitated towards the cherry blossoms.

So pretty, in the mid-morning light.

These happened because we are tourists.

They are still pretty with a background of green, too. :)

IDK what’s happening here.

SO PRETTY OMG.

A pretty doggy, with loooooooong eyelashes. :)

Barby picked these pretty ones off of the ground. :)

It’s really sort of impossible to get sick of these things.

After we took a frillion photos, we ducked into a small restaurant, lured by the promise of this beef bowl-looking thing. (I think it turned out to be sukiyaki.) It’s a no-English, no-sign type of establishment very near the park. I don’t know what it’s called but that’s what the outside looks like.

The sukiyaki and other Japanese patrons. Towards the end of our meal, we were joined by what looked like Japanese businessmen. Not going to lie, it felt very authentic LOL.

I got the tempura with the hot udon. It was very good and filling. :) Eating there was easily one of the best decisions of that day, as the food was wonderful, and tasty, and cheap.

We went to the grocery to buy some necessities—Japanese snacks! Here are fine pieces of seafood, ready to be cooked and devoured.

Cheap Bikkle! You can get this yogurt-y drink in Japanese stores in Manila, but it is crazy expensive. Or, at least, compared to what it cost in Japan.

Flower dumpage, courtesy of a nature-deprived Manila native. This was a random plant box! Can you imagine growing pansies outside your door?

What about tulips?

Or poppies?

Interesting shrubbery. :)

And a reflective surface, which I of course will take photos of!

After we dumped our stuff in the hostel, we headed back to Awaza Station, with the intention of going to the Osaka Aquarium. Barby had to get some money changed, so Isa, Sarie and I ended up playing in a nearby park. I think it might have housed a small minor shrine, but I can’t be too sure.

It was nice, quiet and peaceful. I’m glad we got to hang out a bit there, because we went to a “major” park in Kyoto and it was just full of people. I much prefer this set-up. :)

Some cherry blossoms are pinker than others.

Barby on a bunny and Sarie on a naughty otter.

Isa on a bunny, Sarie still on the otter.

Tsk.

Taking the subway in Japan is easy. :) We took the Chuo Line (Dark Green) to Osakako, which is four stops away. To buy tickets, press “English.” Insert your money, indicate how many tickets and what variation (adult, child), and click “Subway.” Insert your money then click the fare amount (red numbers on the small black buttons). You can find the fare amount on the big map at the top. Black = adult fare, red = child fare. Hope that helps! :)

The walk to the Osaka Aquarium is short, but there are a lot of things to see.

Daisies! And the first fly we saw IN ALL OF JAPAN until that point.

Flowers!

The plant boxes have sea creatures painted on them. Which means that the aquarium is nearby!

Sarie’s face. :)

LOL.

Barby, a girl after my own heart! Though I don’t blame her—look at this plant box:

We passed by a Milky store, where they had soft-serve Milky! :) It was marvelous.

The entrance for adults to the Osaka Aquarium is ¥2,300, roughly around $23.

This little potato man got into a lot of shenanigans all throughout the aquarium.

We met the river otters first. They are show-offs. Cute, but show-offs.

They were trying to catch fish. :)

The sea otters are cute and sweet and were wrestling and being very cute and hnngh.

I WOULD FREAK OUT IF I EVER GOT STUCK IN A RAINFOREST AND HAD TO TAKE A DRINK OF WATER.

Capybara! These are bigger than I expected.

This King Penguin Chick is the best. I thought he (she?) was a rock at first because s/he was being very, very still. And the fake snow was just blowing around and falling ON HIS HEAD and he’s just like, I DON’T GIVE A CRAP and is relaxing and not caring and he is awesome.

BUTANDING. Whale sharks are awesome. This one had a posse of fishies.

Sarie with a school/tornado.

Seriously, how pretty are you.

Tentacles.

There was an entire section on jellyfish.

I’ve always thought jellyfish were majestic and beautiful, but then I got stung (just a tiny, tiny one) at the beach this weekend, so I do not feel so majestic~ when I see these, but I still do think they are beautiful.

Me & Sarie.

Rockhopper Penguins! We were taking pictures of them and the one on the right made a WEIRD “HONK!” sound/scream hybrid. It was strange. Also, I read (right now) that this species of penguins like to fight (?) so I’m glad I was not fought by a honking/screaming penguin.

At the end of the aquarium route, you can pet sting-rays and sharks.

Outside, a kid with a whale shark balloon. :)

Isa and Sarie waiting, because…

Barby got left behind across the street! The pedestrian light was blinking and the three of us decided to make a run for it, and Barby did not. LOL.

We went to the Umeda area because I needed to get my brother some magazines he asked me to get. We also wanted to see Umeda, and we ended up liking it a lot and going back on one of our later days. But more on that later!

For dinner, we decided we wanted to eat Ippudo Ramen, which is supposedly the best ramen in the world or something. The problem is we didn’t know where it was… So, we asked a man from a car rental where it was and some random guy in the store knew… and he walked with us all the way to Ippudo Ramen.

This is what the front looks like. It does not say “Ippudo Ramen” in English. If we hadn’t had a guide with us, I honestly doubt we would have found it because he walked a little bit ahead of us and we passed by another restaurant in the skinny alley and nearly went in. He had to come get us. Seriously.

The line! We got there before this humongous line formed behind us. There is a better picture of me, but there is Japanese couple PDA in this one, so this is what you are seeing.

Me with the menu.

The menu! Red bowl ramen variants are supposed to be the specials.

Their house tea. It tasted like meds. :(

Barby & me.

Isa. :)

Condiments.

I ordered the “Akamaru Chashumen,” which I think is basically the “Akamaru New” (?) but with more pork slices. I can’t be too sure, though. It kind of looks like disgusting mush, but it was veddy veddy gewd.

Barby’s! I think we might have gotten the same thing, though I am not sure if we both opted for the extra meat.

Isa’s was the “Akamaru Special,” which had pork CHUNKS instead of slices. This was seriously the best. The pork chunk fat melted in your mouth, it was unreal. I took a little bite because I don’t like eating straight-up fat, but it was a glorious experience.

I have shots of Sarie with open eyes, but I like this one because she looks like she has been dreaming of this meal forever. :D

Sarie’s order, the Ippudo Karaka! Looks delicious and it is supposedly what Ukkokei’s Tantanmen is based off of, or so she said. I like Tantanmen tons better.

The gyoza was pretty good. These are tiny, though. Like, literally bite-sized.

Stuffed and happy as clams. :D Though Ippudo Ramen was good, I can live without it. Isa’s dish was the winner, by unanimous vote!

Starbucks friendliness! I was curious, so I ordered the Chai Tea Latte… it’s way better here.

Creepy-ass whale suspended in the Hep Five Mall.

That’s all, folks! :) I hope I can update these faster, but I have to go through so many photos. Thanks for looking! I really appreciate it. :)

The post Travel Log: Japan (Day 3) appeared first on Nothing Spaces.

In case you don’t follow me on Twitter or Instagram, I just got back from Japan! I went with Sarie, Isa, and Barby, and we explored Osaka and Kyoto. We were also there for the sakura festival, which was magical to say the least. Sarie had been to Osaka a long time ago, but it was the first time for the rest of us.

My beautiful best friends. :)

With Isa.

Airline silliness with Sarie.

Weak attempt at funniness.

Kansai Airport! Hello, Osaka!

This is going to be a long post, so click-through if you want to see! :) Inside:

We rode a train on the Nankai Line to get to Namba Station. From there, we rode the subway towards Nishinagahori.

We arrived at night, on the 2nd, so there wasn’t much to do. We roamed the streets of the area around the Nishinagahori Station, which is near where Hostel 64, our first hostel, is located. It’s not too far from the more central Shinsaibashi area, but it is a great deal quieter.

Our first meal was from Sukiya, a 24-hr fast food chain in Japan, since it was one of the few establishments open. We did not come back for a second meal. Though it is cheap, there are better restaurants all over Japan. We’ve walked into random places and enjoyed our meals. :)

I had a beef curry thing. It was nothing special, but I was hungry.

The next day, the places on our list were the Kuromon Market, Shinsaibashi, and America Mura.

Osaka is teeming with pretty plant boxes.

On the way to Kuromon Market, we passed by a pet shop and a camera store. The dogs and cats for sale were groomed to look like Japanese anime animals and had bows and hats on their head.

We went around the Kuromon Market, thinking that there was a lot of food we could choose from to eat for brunch, but a lot of the food there was raw meat and seafood. Ya know, much like a real market.

Takoyaki stand.

There was an abundance of seafood. Barby and I shared a beautiful scallop skewer.

Sarie, waiting to get a squid tempura.

We were on the hunt for sushi, but couldn’t find the store that sells the box we were looking for so we settled for some udon or wheat noodles instead. This turned out to be a great compromise, since the udon was excellent and hand-pulled by the restaurant’s chefs.

Sarie and I got the cold tempura udon, while Isa and Barby split a curry dish.

The Kuromon Market or Kuromon Ichiba is located at the Nipponbashi area, quite close to the station.

Next, we went around the Shinsaibashi area.

We wanted to go to this Uniqlo building, but we decided to do most of our shopping towards the tail-end of the trip because we would be heading to Kyoto in the middle of it.

After shopping around a bit, we headed over to America Mura, which is where the nearest cat café was! A cat café is a café where you can play with their cats. It’s a bit of a strange concept to explain, though not really a new Japanese fad. You basically go to a café for an hour to play with their cats.

For the hour, it is ¥1,050 per person. Sarie and I both got drinks, so we paid ¥1,250 each. We both got earl grey milk tea, which was nothing spectacular. The cats are obviously the specialty of this café.

Some of the cats were skittish and unfriendly. A lot of them were asleep. Most of the ones who were awake were nice and liked to be petted.

This one was one of my favorites, even though it pretty much slept the whole time. We didn’t know how to read Japanese, so we know pretty much none of the names.

This one is Sarie’s favorite. The kitty was nice but sleepy.

We all loved this fat, white, fluffy cat. It felt like petting a cloud.

Hee.

The lap cat! <3 He will cuddle up to anyone who has a lap.

Cute silly cat, who sat on the wall perch with this guy:

Isa’s favorite, who she has named Ginger.

Best friends. <3

A sleepy catty with Sarie, and Barby with the people-hater.

On his ivory tower.

People Hater Club.

The black cat on my lap is one of the most curious of all. But, he doesn’t like going near people or being petted. When he went on my lap to cuddle for a bit, it was a big moment and a victory for all of us, lol.

The guest book. I wish I could read Japanese!

The play area for all the kitties.

The hour really went by so fast. The kitties started warming up to us (at least, in my mind) when we were about to leave.

The cat café is called Neko no Jikan (“Cat’s Time” or “Time with Cats” in English). Apparently, it is the first cat café in Japan. :)

If you wish to visit it, the address is: Villa Inoue 2-A 2-17-10 Nishishinsaibashi, Chuo-ku, Osaka. It can be found around the America-Mura area.

That night, we got lost trying to find Yakiniku Rokko, which is an all-you-can-eat (in 2 hours) Yakiniku affair. We went the long way around, but got there finally. Luckily, it closed at 1 a.m. and had room for four people.

There are no more pictures after this one because we were busy eating.

It was worth the wait because we stuffed ourselves silly! The way back was easier to manage because the owner was very helpful and pointed us in the right direction!

Yakiniku Rokko is located at ２丁目-７-２９ Higashishinsaibashi, Chuo Ward, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture 542-0083, Japan.

The post Travel Log: Japan (Day 1 & 2) appeared first on Nothing Spaces.

We were this close to the stage but, I don’t know, Italians are kind of crabby about their space. It’s weird. I don’t want to generalize and call them rude, but they really were kind of bitchy about it. It was not cool. I really was about to pull the race card, but then that would also be uncool, so we just looked for a different place.

I know it looks congested, but there was plenty of space around us and people were setting mats down as flat as they could and would fully recline. We were perfectly fine with standing around for the remaining four-hour wait, but they would make us leave because they “couldn’t see the stage.”

I talk about the race card, because as you can see, there are people who are standing around here, but we were the only ones they would ask to leave. Seriously. I’m 5″ tall, give me a break. ANYWAY.

We decided to move further back, look at merch (scored a great shirt, woohoo!), and buy water. Here we are with the awesome, laid back people, yay. <3

There was a bunch of dance tunes playing on a mobile while people were setting up/getting everything ready. Caribou opened for Radiohead. Here’s the set list. I will post a different entry on the concert itself, since I’m absolutely swamped currently. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

The post Film Diary: Radiohead in Firenze appeared first on Nothing Spaces.

So, my mom casually commented on my lack of updates here which confirms two things: a) I have been away for a longer time than is healthy for someone who keeps a blog, and b) my mom reads this (hi, mama!). In any case, I was going to make an update, when there was a server error here (that I did not appreciate), and then the moment passed and I wrote on my beauty blog, Softly Sometimes, instead.

My mom pointed out that I hadn’t even finished posting about Europe yet, and now I have begrudgingly put together a photo post of Belgium. Now, Belgium wasn’t a major destination in terms of our itinerary. We took a day trip there because we were in between places (Amsterdam & London) and we figured it would be worth our while to make a stop over.

Because we were going to be walking around, I stashed the digital camera I brought along with me in one of the train lockers. These are the only pictures (aside from a few shots on my Diana Baby/110 camera) you will see of Brussels. The wider angle photos were taken with an LC-A+ (with a wide lens attachment & loaded with Kodak Ektar 100) and the more close-cropped ones were taken with a Nikon FM2 (loaded with Lomo CN 400). I hope you enjoy!

Fun Fact: Tintin is of Belgian descent, apparently!

We tried döner in as many places as we could. This was alright, but not that excellent.

I think we were there on a Sunday, so tons of locals were hanging out in the public squares. Some groups looked like they were on field trips.

Again, construction!

BIG GIANT DOG.

The post Belgium on Film appeared first on Nothing Spaces.

Some pictures from various train rides. During the course of the month, I believe we’ve had at least thirteen major transfers when we were trying to get from city to city. This doesn’t include day trips to Château Versailles or Schloss Neuschwanstein. The novelty of train rides quickly wore off, when we had to haul all of our luggage, stow them in easily-accessible places, and then run to the next far-away platform for a transfer to our final destination.

Not that I’m complaining, though. Sometimes, train rides can still be magical. See for yourself.

(I don’t understand my title segregation and formats anymore, but I think they are pretty descriptive anyway, so whatever you need to find should be easy to find.)

St. Pancras Station, London
Nikon FM-2
Kodak Elitechrome 200

France
Nikon FM-2
Kodak Elitechrome 200

Gare du Nord, Paris, France
Lomography LC-A+
Kodak Portra 400NC

Germany
Nikon FM-2
Kodak Elitechrome 160T

Germany
Nikon FM-2
Kodak Elitechrome 160T

Munich Hauptbanhopf, Germany
Nikon FM-2
Kodak Elitechrome 160T

France to Germany
Lomography LC-A+
Ferrania Solaris 400

France to Germany
Lomography LC-A+
Ferrania Solaris 400

Florence, Italy
Lomography LC-A+
Fuji Natura 1000

Munich, Germany
Lomography LC-A+
Kodak Ektar 100

Brussels, Belgium
Lomography LC-A+
Kodak Ektar 100

Germany to Amsterdam
Lomography LC-A+
Kodak Ektar 100

En route to London
Lomography LC-A+
Kodak Ektar 100

The post Film Diary: Trains & Stations (Europe, 2012) appeared first on Nothing Spaces.

It’s hard to explain why, since we saw so many great places last September, but my favorite place was Amsterdam. At this point, I was all pictured-out, so there’s not much to show you, although I also bought a Diana Baby (for my birthday!), but have yet to process the 110 film.

What can I say about Amsterdam?

It was such a beautiful place, with so many pleasant people. Coming from Italy, where people could be a little brash and loud at times, we were taken aback by how pleasant and laid-back everyone here was. The whole topography of Amsterdam was so charming, and I loved seeing the house boats lining the sides of the canals. The sun just seems to beam down on this place, but it still looks crisp and beautiful instead of how warmly the sun touches the Philippines. Agh, I just love how the light hits Europe. It just makes everything gleam.

The Milkmaid by Johannes Vermeer

These Nutella waffles were so, so good. And they have these things they serve with coffee called candy cookies or something like that, and I loved them so much.

One of the Iamsterdam signs. :)

My birthday breakfast! I had a wonderful chive bagel. Ah, Amsterdam. I miss you a whole lot.

The post I Left My Heart in Amsterdam appeared first on Nothing Spaces.

Nikon FM-2, Lomography CN 400

Lomography LC-A+, Kodak Ektar 100

The post Film Diary: Venice appeared first on Nothing Spaces.

Here are the last couple of pictures from our trip to Venice. At least, in terms of digital ones. After Rome, I didn’t really feel like taking a lot of pictures, though. It was weird but at an estimated midpoint through the trip, I kind of… stopped taking pictures. I bumped into my friend, Sonny, at the Kent Williams exhibit at Blanc about a week ago. He had been on a trip to London, and at some point, he also stopped taking pictures and just chose to “take it all in,” so to speak.

I don’t think I can stop taking pictures, ever, but it’s nice to stop and smell the roses once in a while.

The light in Venice is marvelous. It’s a treat for people who like color-grading their photos or videos. These pictures were taken on a cloudy day. I added a blue exclusion layer, much like how I made my icons when I made them for LiveJournal.

This iconic sculpture by Marino Marini called “The Angel of the City” looks outward to the water from its place at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. It was first made in 1948 with a detachable penis because of blushing ladies. (!)

The parentals.

My older brother, Luis.

My younger sister, Isabel, aka my Willing Victim Model.

“Is this all, Venice?” she asks. (Kidding, of course.)

My dad got my mom got a new camera for this trip. It’s a Nikon micro 4/3rds.

I also enjoy taking photos of people whose photos are being taken by other people.

On our last day, we ditched our bags at the train station and my sister and I hurriedly went out and sat by the water, because when you are in the midst of beauty, you must never forget to stop and pay attention.

The post The Last of Venezia appeared first on Nothing Spaces.

(To get to our accommodations, you have to pass by a small doorway that leads into a bigger alley, which goes into the Jewish ghetto. Outside that doorway, though, is a canal and some sort of fish market, which I only see in the morning.)

I think it’s no secret that we, for some reason, have a strange fondness for feeding pigeons. One sunny day in Venice, we decided to stop by the Rialto (of course) and the Piazza San Marco, also known as the Pigeon Capital of the World. I mean, I would guess.

I loved going around Venice. It has a sort of labyrinthine feel to it, with a lot of narrow streets and ominous passageways that lead up to a beautiful piazza or a bridge to take you to another part of Venice. It’s a little difficult to get around, but you get to see a lot of wonderful things. Like this row of pretty-colored houses, for instance.

It’s quite nice to shop and look around, too. However, you kind of need to scout for the best price. A lot of Italian stores, especially the ones located near tourist attractions, sell the same things for varying prices, so if you spot a great deal, you should go for it.

We took a water bus or vaporetto to save time, and also to see some of the buildings from a view on the water. This, for example, is the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, with a great Calder piece (it’s a dog!) visible from the canal. When my parents were last in Venice, people could disembark from water-based vehicles onto this side of Peggy Guggenheim, but I don’t think they do that now, since it leads right into the building, bypassing the ticketing office.

Santa Maria della Salute. We didn’t get to visit this gorgeous place, but I read more about it here.

The Piazetta, which connects to Piazza San Marco

Piazza San Marco, or St. Mark’s Square, is often called “the Piazza,” and aside from the Rialto bridge, this is where tourists flock to. According to Wikipedia (lol), “it is one of the few great urban spaces in Europe where human voices prevail over the sounds of motorized traffic.”

The thing I love about Italy is that they take their piazzas (and their pizzas, hehe!) very seriously. I had a hard time leaving Italy because I knew there would be no public spaces and squares—at least no pleasant ones—waiting for me in Manila. I remember filching a shirt from my sister, which was designed by Team Manila, with a slogan emblazoned on the front: We need more parks. Indeed-y, we do.

Like I said, we love feeding pigeons. It reminded me of a strip by a softer world, where a devious plan to feed pigeons some uncooked rice (they expand when wet), for a pigeon explosion. I did not try it out to see if it’s an accurate hypothesis.

St. Mark’s Basilica takes up most of the Piazza. I love this place. It’s a hodge-podge of aesthetic and cultural styles (Byzantine mosaics, holla!), and I LOVE IT. I know some people think it’s atrocious, but I am of the belief that it is wonderful. Because it totally is.

Sassy green pigeon, gnawing on a normal-colored pigeon.

Pigeon bath! We witnessed the assertion of territorial superiority. It was quite fascinating, but mostly it was funny.

P.S. I colored these photos quite a bit. As you can see.

The post Pigeon Frenzy in Venice appeared first on Nothing Spaces.

On our first afternoon in Venice, we walked around the Jewish ghetto and the surrounding areas. Cut short by the rain, our exploration ended at a quaint coffee shop (which turned out to be a chain), where I had the most amazing lemon meringue. The rain let up, and instead going back to the hotel, we decided to venture out near the city center. We were met with the most amazing sunset.

Slowly, the sky changed from a brilliant orange into a vivid sort of purple. It wasn’t a bruised-up sky, but a bright, tinted purple. Somehow, as we found ourselves at the edge of Venice, as we chased the sun down. It was thrilling and somewhat romantic. Our sprint was cut short by the water, and the scene unfolded like something I would have liked to read about in a story or to watch in a film.

Taken with my iPhone 4 & Instagram

I know that people often consider Paris as the City of Love and Romance, but I truthfully felt this buzzing, swelling feeling in Venice. Crazy, right? Maybe it’s all the American tourists aboard the gondoliers at every turn, or something in the air (love?). But perhaps it’s sunsets like this, introduced by heavy rains and a rainbow, coloring everything with a wash of warmth. Or witnessing a man’s proposal to a beautiful woman on a random street corner, accompanied by “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” on an accordion.

Sometimes, I witness something remarkably, undeniably magical, and I wonder how these things fall into place. I wonder about the possibility and the likelihood that I be a piece of these puzzles, and I think about how lucky I am to have been a part of this one little pocket of magic—in Venice, no less!—that afternoon.

The post A Venetian Sunset appeared first on Nothing Spaces.