Austen and the Abbey (Day Two)

Hello dear readers, how are you? Thank you for your lovely birthday messages, I had a nice day picnicking in the country :)

Now it's time for the second installment of Austen and the Abbey!

The beautiful location for this day of the event was Stoneleigh Abbey in Warwickshire, the home of Jane Austen's ancestors.

The West Wing, which is the main facade of the house.

The picturesque gatehouse, which dates back to the 12th and 14th centuries. 

The bed in Queen Victoria's bedroom (she stayed here too!)

A wood-panelled room with fancy red velvet chairs.

Lolis taking a tour!

The lady in regency costume who gave us the tour.

Me and my friend Bree!

The saloon, where the fashion show was held. Today's show featured Fairy wish, Atelier Pierrot, Juliette et Justine (I got to wear an amazing Red Riding Hood coordinate!) and Baroque.

The library.

Fairy wish tights! They are amazing and have cockatiels on them!

Books in the library.

Tapestry-work chairs.

Some rather nice tassels.

I feel really lucky to be from a country that has so many wonderful and well-preserved buildings like this. It was a great location for a lolita event and I think it was especially good for the Japanese guests, who got to do a little sightseeing along with their work.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures! See you next time,

Sapphira

Okinawa trip

Hello dear readers, how are you? Did you have a nice weekend?

Here in the south of England the weather has been very nice, warm and sunny and very summery! I went shopping in Brighton on Saturday and had a drive in the country on Sunday. My friends in Tokyo tell me it was 33 degrees yesterday. I guess I came home at just the right time. I hope it will cool down a bit there by the time I return! Take care in the heat, everyone.

Just before I left Japan, I had a very short trip to Okinawa. It was a work-related trip, but as we arrived the afternoon before the shooting I had a little free time. I decided to go for a walk and see what I could find. I was staying in Naha, the capital.

I had never been to Okinawa before so I was really excited. I had heard that the culture is very different from mainland Japan so I was curious to see how it would compare to Tokyo. I was also excited to see shiisaa!

They are statues representing guardian creatures that look something like a cross between lions and dogs. They usually come in pairs and are very similar to the lion statues you see elsewhere in Asia.

I was able to see lots and lots of them even in the small area around my hotel. There were big ones, small ones, scary ones and cute ones.

Does this one count as scary or cute?

He or she was guarding the souvenir shopping street.

The shops were full of shiisaa and goya (bitter gourd) related souvenirs. Piggy souvenirs were also popular! They eat a lot of pork in Okinawa. Poor little piggies!

This lipstick-wearing shiisaa was pretty fabulous.

There were also loads of One Piece souvenirs! I was tempted by a phonestrap of Zoro riding a shiisaa and brandishing a goya but it was almost 600yen so I didn't bother. 

I saw some other creatures too- cats! This one was so small and pretty but she was a bit timid.

There was also a big giant one of the roof of one of the souvenir shops! 

Of course I wanted to try some Okinawan food. I spotted this spam and egg onigiri in the airport:

It was... kind of bad. Another feature of Okinawan cuisine is sweet potatoes, and the hotel brochure recommended Beniimo Tarts as a souvenir. Here is a giant one outside the shop:

I bought some to take home, and they were really good! 

The colour is so pretty and they are not overly sweet.

I had dinner at a nearby restaurant and it was very nice. The starter was sea grapes:

I guess it looks a bit strange but it was nice! For the main dish I had goya chanpuru, which is one of the best-known Okinawan specialities.

It's pork and egg and goya. The taste of the pork went well with the bitterness of the goya, but maybe the goya was a bit overpowering. It's supposed to be really good for your skin so I ate all of it anyway.

I enjoyed the little time that I spent in Okinawa, and I hope I'll be able to go back there again for a longer time. I have heard of some amazing castle ruins, museums and beaches which I would like to visit, and I want to try some more foods!

Have you ever been to Okinawa? Do you have any experiences or recommendations to share? Let me know in the comments!

Thank you for reading and see you next time,

Sapphira

Fishbourne

 Hello dear readers! How are you?

Sorry for such a long gap between entries. I have returned home to England for the summer and I have been busy enjoying myself!

I still have lots of Tokyo posts to catch up on, but in today's entry I'll show you photos from a day in Fishbourne, near Chichester.

As I have mentioned before, I am friends with a certain Jack who has marvellous Adventures in Museum Land! Last wekend he wanted to visit Fishbourne Roman Palace. I had been there before on a school trip, but I thought it would be nice to refresh my memory and so I tagged along.

Here is my outfit:

Blouse: Vintage

Skirt: Handmade

Plimsolls, socks: Offbrand

Since we were going into the country I thought it would be wise to wear plimsolls, and I put together a 50s inspired coordinate to match them. I looped up my hair to make a poofy ponytail and tied it with a pale green ribbon.

It's simple to do and cute and practical for summer! I will make a tutorial soon.

I won't tell you too much about the museum as you'll be much better off reading my friend's excellent article! However I'll share a couple of photos of the most famous and well preserved mosaic there:

Cupid riding a dolphin

A hippocampus

The mosaic also included an exciting sea-panther but my photo didn't come out well :(

 Although it's not my favourite period in history I always feel a sort of jolly familiarity when I visit Roman sites. Latin was probably my best subject at school and I kept on with it right until I left sixth form. Unfortunately I don't remember all that much of it now!

Outside, a reenactment with 'Roman' soldiers was being staged. It went on a bit but there was a thrilling part where they all rushed at the audience and several children ran away screaming! A the end there was a demonstration of the onager and that was pretty good too.

After we had exhausted the museum we had a picnic and then went for a stroll. We met two very friendly horses!

Lovely horsey! I wanted to take them home with me. 

Since I'm in England for a while, I am going to try to write more about my own country. There are a lot of wonderful things here and I want to share them with you! I hope you enjoyed todays post.

Thank you for reading and see you next time,

Sapphira

xxxx

Showa Kinen Park

Hello dear readers! How are you?

It's a drizzly day today, I suppose rainy season is getting started. However, I'm going to show you pictures from  nice sunny day! I went for a picnic at Showa Kinen Park in Tachikawa.

I was suprised at the size of the park, it's huge! It's the one place I've been in Tokyo where you can look around and not see a single tall ugly building. It almost felt like I was back in Sussex.

The park includes a lake, bicycle track and a herb garden. I took this picture in the herb garden, it's really pretty! And I saw a fat little lizard sunbathing among the herbs :)

Blouse: Franche Lippée

JSK: Innocent World

Bag: Baby, the Stars Shine Bright

I wanted to make a light-coloured, dreamy classic coordinate like Fanny Rosie! Do you know her? I expect you do, since she is very popular, but if not she's a Canadian lolita with the most perfect classical outfits.

There's a cafe at the park serving all sorts of drinks and herbal teas. I had lavender tea. It was a delicate taste, and very relaxing.

I drank it surrounded by lavender bushes! 

It was a windy day but I still really enjoyed the picnic.There were wild flowers and strawberries growing in the grass, and I had a nice view of the lake.

There's also a Japanese garden. It's beautiful! Unfortunately the trees were full of hairy caterpillars.... I am fond of caterpillars so I was quite pleased to see them at first, until one tumbled out of the tree an inch from my nose. I kept my parasol up after that.

I met a wise old cat in the Japanese garden! I saw three cats in the park, this one, a roly poly ginger one, and a scrubby black one. Why are there so many stray cats in Japan? Everyone seems to love cats and feeds the stray ones, but where did they come from?

There was also a bonsai garden. Some of the trees were 300 years old.

I hope that you enjoyed the photos. If you fancy going to a park for a relaxing day, I think this one is the best in Tokyo!

See you next time,

Sapphira

My celebrity lifestyle

Hello dear readers, how are you? Hope you are well!

Today I'll show you some pictures of me hanging out with celebrities.... they weren't very talkative, but it was nice to see them anyway.

First is everyone's favourite, Jackie Chan!

Then I went bicycling with E.T....

Then I met Audrey Hepburn for a late breakfast at Tiffany's....

Then a game of tennis with... some tennis player??

Had my portrait painted by Leonardo Da Vinci, who looked remarkably well dspite having been dead for almost 500 years....

Stood in for Jane Russell....

Did a little dance with a sumo wrestler (no, I can't remember any of the sportspeople's names, sorry)....

And finally I acted with Shakespeare!

You have probably guessed that I went to a waxwork museum, and you are quite correct. I went to Madame Tussauds in Odaiba. The weather was miserable so I didn't have much enthusiasm for dressing up for once, but I enjoyed the museum. My father took me to Madame Tussauds in London when I was little, I still remember it very well, especially the 'brides in the bath' murderer! 

It's a shame they didn't have more bloodthirsty/ historical things in this one, but there were props and things so you could pose with the wax works so it was fun taking pictures. I wish I could have taken E.T home, he is so cute!

In the same building there is a takoyaki 'museum', though it isn't a museum at all, it's a gaudily decorated self-service restaurant.

Anyway they had lots of different takoyaki to try and it was very delicious.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures! See you again soon,

Sapphira