On a night cruise on Dotonborri River, Osaka, Japan
In the bustling shopping center of Dotonborri, Osaka, Japan
Japan is one of our dream destinations. So, when we flew to Osaka, Japan after hitting our first crazy goal (full story here), the husband and I really got excited.
In my case, I was thrilled because aside from finally going to Japan, I had the chance to experience Japan where I only got to know from the novels of Haruki Murukami.
It is actually one of my wishes to create a travel itinerary based on my favorite novels or authors. So, when I went to Japan, we visited Osaka, Kyoto, and Nara cities. They might not be featured in Murukami novels but the feeling that I was there, I felt closer already. When we ventured into taking the train by ourselves, I recall how Murukami would describe a train ride (Time and Space Reconsidered: The Literary Landscape of Murakami Haruki):
We see the scenery of a gigantic metropolis that is just waking up. Commuter trains of various colours move towards their destinations and transport many people from one place to another. Each passenger is a human being with a different face and a different mind. At the same time, each one is an anonymous part of a collective entity. Each is a complete entity and, at the same time, a mere part.
Someday, I will visit every single city in his novels.
Then, I stumbled upon this article today, At the Corner of Byron and Shelley | Poetry and philhellenism at the Greek bicentennial. When I read it, I got really excited because it mentions about Athens, our next all-expense-paid destination. Kilig mode on!!!
Image from the article.
I was walking down Byron Street one day this past spring, heading to the post office in downtown Athens (an allowable outing under the lockdown—reason #2). It is a pleasant street, with one- and two-story neoclassical buildings in various stages of renovation or dilapidation, plus the odd souvenir shop and little hotel, leading up to the square of the Lysicrates monument, which was once used as a study in the Capuchin monastery. Lord Byron and his friend John Cam Hobhouse had stayed at the monastery in 1809. Byron Street abuts Shelley Street, both not far from the road known as the Street of the Philhellenes. Normally the area would have been thronged with souvenir-purchasing tourists, but Covid had left it strangely empty.
I should now take this creating a travel itinerary based on my favorite books and authors, seriously!
Day 21 Minimalism challenge, Reevaluate your to-do list. Yes, I really need to do this. I need to do block schedules to really make sure I get things done accordingly. Any tips you want to share?
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Ⓒ 21 September 2021
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