Author: C'est le Brie

Two sisters on opposite coasts, keeping in touch through travel and recipes.

Top 15 Things to See & Do On Your First Trip to Japan

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1. Sensō-ji Temple (Asakusa – Tokyo)

Sensō-ji Temple is a stunning ancient Buddhist Temple (the oldest in Tokyo) located in the Asakusa District and surrounded by shopping, restaurants, and beautiful photo ops. There is so much history here and you could truly spend an entire day wandering around and looking at the architecture. I’d recommend doing a walking tour like this one of the temple and the rest of the Asakusa district. It’s a great way to start your trip in Japan!

2. Robot Restaurant (Shibuya – Tokyo)

I mean. You can’t go to Japan without visiting the famous Robot Restaurant. You can catch a glimpse of the crazy action in my YouTube video here! Make sure to stop by the Cat Cafe in Shibuya before the show too. 🙂

3. Shibuya Scramble (Shibuya – Tokyo)

You’ve probably heard of the “Shibuya Scramble” or the Shibuya Crossing, a popular pedestrian intersection where you can watch thousands of people “scrambling” through Shibuya. I’d recommend watching from above at the Shibuya Skydeck. Shibuya is sort of like the Times Square of Tokyo, with bright lights, endless restaurants, and lots of people visiting from all over the world.

4. Harajuku District (Tokyo)

No visit to Tokyo is complete without visiting the Harajuku district. This is where you will witness the incredible fashion, shopping, food, and younger culture of Japan. It’s bright, energetic, and busy. There is so much to see and do in this part of town so make sure to set aside time to wander and shop!

5. Fushimi Inari Shrine (Kyoto)

The Fushimi Inari Shrine is probably one of the most memorable spots from our trip. It is a Shinto shrine filled with hundreds of bright red gates. You can wander the paths for hours, or you can take the steep 2.5 mile hike to the top. We only made it about halfway to a viewpoint of the city of Kyoto, which is where most people decide to stop and turn around. But go for it if you want to say you climbed to the top! I definitely recommend going on an early morning tour like this one to avoid crowds!

You can check out my YouTube video about our visit to the Inari shrine here!

6. Gion District (Kyoto)

The Gion district, or “geisha district”, is an extremely old and historical part of Kyoto. It’s filled with wooden structures, izakayas, and teahouses. You’ll find travelers and locals alike wearing traditional kimono. It was an incredibly beautiful and magical part of our trip. We stayed in the Kyoto Inn Gion The Second hotel and absolutely loved it.

7. Chion-in Temple (Kyoto)

This temple actually wasn’t originally on our list to visit, but it was close to our first hotel we stayed in, the The Kyoto Hana Hotel, and we couldn’t take our eyes off of it. There is a LOT to see here and so many places you can sit and meditate, photograph, or admire. This walking tour includes the Chion-in Temple, as well as a few other famous landmarks in Kyoto, so it might be best to be pushed along a little so that you can use your time wisely. 🙂

You can check out our visit to the Chion-in Temple in my YouTube video here!

8. Kyoto Gyoen National Garden (Kyoto)

This was another place we stumbled upon while wandering through Kyoto. We were on our way to Honke Owariya, the oldest restaurant in Kyoto, Japan, established in 1465! They are known for their handmade soba noodles. On our way there, I looked at the map and saw a giant park called Kyoto Gyoen National Garden. There were so many beautiful plants, flowers, buildings, and gardens here. The Kyoto Imperial Palace was especially stunning! This morning walking tour of Kyoto will take you through this park if you’re interested!

9. Owakudani Mountain (Hakone)

Owakudani Mountain is a truly magical place. It’s known for it’s “black eggs” that are boiled right there in the hot natural spring water. It’s known to bring you 7 years of good luck if you eat one! There is a cute visitors center at the top of the mountain and a gorgeous view of Mount Fuji if you’re lucky enough to have a clear day. As a photographer, I loved seeing the volcanic steam rising from the mountain. The black eggs weren’t too bad, actually, but the curry bun we got at the visitor’s center was delish! If you take this tour of Hakone, you get to take the cable car up the mountain to Owakudani.

Watch my YouTube video about our day at Owakudani Mountain here!

10. Hakone Open-Air Museum (Hakone)

The Hakone Open-Air Museum really sticks out in my mind because it was such a peaceful and inspiring place. We went on a rainy day so it was super quiet and meditative. There is a foot bath with natural running spring water that we rested our weary feet in for at least an hour. It was so nice and much needed. This tour includes the Open-Air Museum, as well as Owakudani Mountain mentioned above. We also stayed in a gorgeous guesthouse called Irori Guesthouse Tenmaku, which was incredibly memorable and unique, in the best way.

11. Onshi Hakone Park (Hakone)

If you’re in Hakone, you absolutely need to catch a glimpse of Lake Ashi at some point. I’d recommend a tour like this one so you can take a ride on the epic pirate ship that coasts around the lake. As a photographer, I loved wandering around Onshi-Hakone park and taking photos of all of the beautiful plants, flowers, and views.

12. Nara Deer Park (Nara)

If you google Nara, Japan, the first thing you’ll see is wild deer everywhere. It’s so fun to feed them and it is super memorable. I’d plan to walk through Nara Park on your way to Tōdai-ji Temple, mentioned below. Or, take a walking tour or bike tour of Nara to make sure you don’t miss anything!

You can watch my YouTube video about our day in Nara here!

13. Tōdai-ji Temple (Nara)

Tōdai-ji Temple is gorgeous, and a must-see if you’re in Nara. There is also a lovely view of the city from the area around the temple. The temple also houses the largest bronze Buddha statue in the country! My husband was amazed by the building because it’s also the largest wooden structure in Japan! The walking tour or bike tour will bring you to the Tōdai-ji Temple too. 🙂

You can watch my YouTube video about our day in Nara here!

14. Kōtoku-in Buddhist Temple

The Kōtoku-in Buddhist Temple is located in the quiet and peaceful town of Kamakura. I loved this temple because you can actually walk around INSIDE the giant Buddha. I had a very memorable moment while visiting this statue and I’ll never forget it. This half-day walking tour will bring you to Kōtoku-in, as well as a few other key stops in Kamakura.

Make sure to watch my YouTube video about our day in Kamakura here!

15. Kamakura Zaimokuza Beach

I couldn’t visit Japan without visiting a beach. Kamakura Zaimokuza Beach was beautiful and it was a perfect way to end our trip. The half day walking tour I mentioned above will also bring you to this beach. We stayed at the Kamakura Prince Hotel, which had a stunning view of the ocean. I’d also recommend Moana Makai if you’re looking for a restaurant!

Make sure to watch my YouTube video about our day in Kamakura here!

I hope these travel tips give you some insight into the magic of Japan and everything it has to offer. I’m hoping to visit again next year! Feel free to leave any thoughts, comments, questions. I’m always happy to share what I’ve learned in my travels. 🙂

You can read a more detailed post about these landmarks on my photography blog here. Or check out my YouTube channel to see all of our travels!

❤ Myles Katherine

Top 10 Travel Tips for your first time in Amsterdam, Netherlands

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  • 1. Stay in De Pijp – Staying at the Sir Albert, of course! De Pijp is a down-to-earth neighborhood that is easy to stroll and not quite as noisy as the city center. It is filled with lovely restaurants and has great streets and canals to meander. It’s also a 20-30 minute walk to the city center and red light district or a quick metro ride!
A little duck fancied himself a ride on our vessel
  • 3. Visit the Tony’s Chocolonley Headquarters – Tony’s Chocolonley is a Dutch chocolate company that was created to combat the exploitation in the cocoa manufacturing industry. Not only is its mission important, its chocolate is amazing. Conveniently, its headquarters are based in the heart of Amsterdam. The company has creative flavors, bars, and snacks to choose from. But if nothing on the menu tickles your fancy, then you can actually make your own chocolate bar – amazing, right?!
Blueberry Deluxe with a scoop of saffron ice cream. Heavenly.
  • 6. Try bitterballen. If croquettes and beef stew had a child, it would be a fried baby bitterballen. You simply cannot leave Amsterdam without trying one. We ordered them at cafe t’Smalle, and they were so delicious!
  • 7. Check out a museum – We opted for the Van Gogh museum. You can purchase tickets ahead through the museum’s website. If you prefer to enter through a guided tour, you can purchase tickets and the tour here. While we didn’t do a tour this time, I recommend booking your tickets ahead of time for the day and time slot you want to go. I would set aside a minimum of two hours for the Van Gogh museum. If you’re short on time, the Kattenkabinet (cat museum) is quirky and cool with a lovely gift shop! It only takes 45 minutes to an hour to explore.
  • 8. Enjoy a cocktail date night – The Flying Dutchman was a perfect date spot, but be sure to make reservations! It had an inspiring menu showcasing classic cocktails throughout the ages and a robust whisky collection.

Til next time

❤ Natalie

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Easy Overnight Pumpkin Brioche Baked French Toast | Cozy Brunch Recipes for the Fall Season

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I LOVE French toast. Who doesn’t? But I especially love pumpkin French toast. As much as I would love to spend my entire day baking homemade pumpkin brioche bread, I just don’t have the time these days! I’m in the midst of wedding season (check out my wedding photography here!) and it’s hard to find time to plan complicated recipes. When I came across the pumpkin brioche bread at Trader Joe’s, I knew immediately that it would make the most incredible French toast recipe, and it did! I also incorporated Trader Joe’s non-dairy cinnamon bun oat creamer, but you can use any fall-flavored coffee creamer you’d like! I’m never able to finish a whole container of coffee creamer before it goes bad, so I love adding it to baking recipes whenever I get the chance!

Ingredients:

1 loaf of pumpkin broiche bread (homemade or from Trader Joe’s!)
8 eggs
3/4 cup half & half
3/4 cup non-dairy cinnamon bun oat creamer from Trader Joe’s (or other fall-flavored coffee creamer)
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp bourbon vanilla extract
1 tsp ground organic cinnamon
Pinch of salt

Instructions:

1. Butter a deep 9×13 baking dish.
2. Arrange slices of the brioche bread to cover the bottom of the pan. You can overlap bread slices if needed.
3. Beat the eggs in a large bowl. Add the half & half, flavored creamer, melted butter, maple syrup, brown sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and salt to the bowl. Stir until combined. Pour the egg mixture over the bread.
4. Cover and place in the refrigerator overnight, or at least for 30-45 minutes.
5. When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. You can add a few extra pats of butter if you’d like your French toast to be extra buttery!
6. Cook for 35-40 minutes, or until golden brown.
7. Serve with butter and maple syrup! I also love my french toast with a scoop of cream cheese, or in this case, pumpkin cream cheese! 🙂 Enjoy!

❤ Myles Katherine


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Review of the Complete Douro Valley Wine Tour with River Cruise in Portugal | Travel Tips for Porto, Portugal

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Before we left for Portugal, I spent a whole day researching day trips from the city of Porto. I knew I wanted to get out of the city and visit a few of the vineyards because, well, you can’t really visit Porto without drinking port wine! When I found this tour with Viator, I knew it was exactly what we were looking for. I didn’t want to do anything too exhausting. I really just wanted to look at beautiful views and drink port wine. This tour was EXACTLY that. If you’d prefer to watch rather than read, you can check out my full YouTube video about our tour on my YouTube channel here!

We met our tour group super early in the morning and hopped on the bus. We were greeted by our super sweet and cute tour guide, Margarida. Our first stop was the beautiful town of Amarante. We only had about 30 minutes here to grab a pastry or a cup of coffee, peek into one of the churches and snap a few photos of the view. It was a quiet and gorgeous little town though!

Our next stop was the first vineyard, Casa dos Barros. It had a stunning courtyard covered in vines, free-roaming peacocks and delicious port wine. One of the workers at the winery showed us to one of the wine cellars and gave us 3 different port wine tastings, along with cheese. She was absolutely hilarious and so entertaining. We then enjoyed lunch at the winery in a lovely dining room, along with the rest of our tour group. It was a full 4 course meal, a salad, soup, main entree, and dessert. We had both white and red wines served alongside our lunch too! While the food wasn’t anything too exciting, it was substantial enough that we were content and full. Plus, we were there for the wine anyway, and the wine was delicious!

We made our way back to the tour bus and enjoyed the incredible views of the Douro Valley. The morning was cloudy but it finally began to clear up as we made our way to the traditional rabelo boat ride on the Douro River. By the time we were cruising the river, the sun was popping out and we were able to witness the rolling hillsides and beautiful vineyards along the river. The boat ride was quite slow and peaceful, which actually made me rather sleepy. But I thoroughly appreciate a slower pace on these tours because I’m typically exhausted from traveling. As a photographer, I loved this part of the tour because I was able to take some gorgeous photos of the Douro River as I sat in my seat, watching the hills slip by. It was rather meditative, and exactly what I needed after a few days in the hustle and bustle of Porto.

After the boat ride, our bus driver took us about 5 minutes up the road to our next stop, Croft Port. It’s one of the oldest wine producers in the world and was truly the most beautiful vineyard I’ve ever seen. Maybe it’s because the weather was perfect, the sun was shining, and we’d already had a few glasses of port, but we couldn’t get over the scenery. We were given a tour of the vineyard and one of the workers told us about the process of port wine-making. We were then handed three tastings each; a white, a ruby, and a tawny port. They were all amazing. We bought a bottle of the white port for only 10 euros, which is insane. It was so incredibly refreshing. We wanted to stay there forever because it was such a magical place.

On the ride home, almost everyone took a nap as our tour guide filled us in on a few more facts about the Douro Valley. We got back to Porto just in time for dinner. And yes, we enjoyed even more port wine with our dinner. 🙂 We went to the most incredible vegetarian restaurant, Espécie. I’ve honestly never had a dessert as delicious as the sticky toffee pudding. I’ve been inspired to try to recreate that dish at some point back home. SO. GOOD.

I would absolutely recommend this tour to anyone visiting Porto. It’s the perfect getaway from the city and it’s so relaxing. Any age group could go on this tour. The port wine was as delicious as I’d hoped it would be and we learned so much about the history and process behind it. This might have even been one of my favorite bus tours I’ve been on so far in Europe. I didn’t get carsick and I didn’t feel like it was too rushed. Most of the day was spent looking at stunning views and drinking port wine, which is precisely what we were hoping for. 🙂 I’d say it’s a 9 out of 10 on the tour scale. It was lovely.

If you’re interested in booking this same tour, you can find it here. And make sure to check out my Viator shop to see all of our favorite tours around the world so far! And you can see more videos from our trip to Portugal on my YouTube channel!

Thanks so much for taking the time to read all about our adventure! Make sure to check out our blog post about our favorite Cute and Affordable Hotels in Porto and Lisbon, Portugal. Or you can read about our 3 Hour Food & Wine Tour in Porto here!

Have a lovely day!

❤ Myles Katherine

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Delicious Pumpkin Cupcake Muffins with Molasses Cream Cheese Filling & Bourbon Frosting

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September is here and I decided that I needed to make something delicious/warm/pumpkin-y to help me forget my upcoming winter woes. I couldn’t find a pumpkin cupcake recipe that had a filling AND a frosting, so I combined a few different recipes and invented my own. & it was totally worth it. Though I would consider them more “Muffcakes” than cupcakes or muffins. Or “puffcakes” since they are pumpkin. YAY I LOVE PUMPKIN (AND BOURBON)!

Cake:

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 & 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 tbsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ginger
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/4 sp. ground cloves
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree (I used a Canned Pumpkin Pie Mix– it gives it some extra fall spicy-ness)

Filling:

  • 8 oz. cream cheese, softened (if you can get a hold of pumpkin cream cheese, it’s even better. Trader Joe’s has one in the fall!)
  • 2 tbsp molasses
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • pinch of salt

Cream Cheese Frosting:

  • 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature (again, you can try it with pumpkin cream cheese!)
  • 1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
  • 1/4 cup pumpkin puree (just use some of the leftovers from above)
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 2-4 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2-3 tsp bourbon

Instructions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Line muffin pans with 24 muffin liners & set aside.
  3. In a large bowl combine the dry ingredients and stir until well combined. In a smaller bowl mix together the eggs, oil and pumpkin.
  4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together until smooth.
  5. Fill the muffin liners 1/2 of the way with the pumpkin batter.
  6. With a mixer cream all of the filling ingredients together.
  7. Drop small spoonfuls of the filling (about a teaspoon) into the center of each filled muffin liner.
  8. Add a little more batter to each cupcake, enough to cover the cream cheese. Bake for about 18-20 minutes or until the edges of the cupcake begin to harden. (Don’t test in the middle since the middle will stay soft and gooey).
  9. While the cupcakes are baking, mix together the cream cheese, butter, cinnamon and pumpkin in a medium bowl until fluffy to make the frosting. Gradually add powdered sugar. Fold in the bourbon and vanilla extract at the end and adjust for taste. 
  10. Frost the cupcakes once cooled. Dash with cinnamon for added appeal 😀
  11. Enjoy!

By Myles Katherine ❤

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