Navidad en Dallas y Monterrey

La Navidad en Dallas no existe, al menos no la he vivido nunca. Siempre la he pasado en Monterrey con la familia. Pero en Dallas, desde más de un mes antes pueden verse las casas decoradas o puedes ver algunos jardines o parques decorados. Este año me tocó visitar un parque en la 635, esquina con Montfort. No lo recomiendo porque no creo que valga la pena pagar por ir a verlo:

Lo que sí valió la pena fue el jardín botánico de Fort Worth (Fort Worth Botanic Garden) y la famosa casa en la Avenida Deloache en Dallas:

En Navidad pudimos disfrutar antojitos mexicanos en Monterrey:

Mientras mi familia siga reuniéndose en Monterrey, el plan es seguir yendo allá cada año. Posiblemente algunas veces para Fin de Año o Año Nuevo seguiremos estando en algún lugar de Estados Unidos, pero no fue el caso este año.

Siendo de los pocos solteros o laicos que no tienen compromisos eclesiásticos no me toca muy seguido, pero cuando se puede da gusto ver a los amigos. 

Esta última foto es una rosca de reyes del HEB rellena de chocolate. Sobrevivió el viaje hasta Dallas y pude traerla a la escuela.

Japan, November, 2025

This trip was refundable, but except for museums, meals, and transportation, it was already paid for. My elbow was still hurting after last summer's surgery, and my snoring has kept me awake occasionally. Despite all of that, I might be doing a little better overall. I planned and paid for this trip before my severe snoring issues began keeping me awake at night sometimes. I left on Saturday and arrived on Sunday evening, a few days before Thanksgiving. This was Tokyo Ginza, where a somewhat affordable, yet decent hotel can be found:

I took a tour to Hakone on Monday. While I've been there before, I wanted to visit the open-air museum. Fall colors had come a little earlier than last year. 

As it was a tour, we were taken back to Tokyo at night:

The next day felt somewhat wasted. Many museums were either closed (despite Google Maps saying that they were open) and others required a reservation. The day was also cloudy and chilly, so pictures were not as good we would expect on a sunny day:

That afternoon/early evening saved the day. The TeamLab Planets Museum had expanded to over twice its original size, adding new attractions:

I was unable to go up to Shibuya Sky, as I needed a reservation, but the streets were beautiful:

You're never done visiting Kyoto's temples. This was my third time visiting. New temples keep showing up on Google Maps or social media advertisements. I was able to see some temples near the famous bamboo forest as well as an art museum in the morning. This is part of what I saw, starting with a beautiful view of Mt. Fuji on my way from Tokyo to Kyoto:

Right around noon I visited another temple and garden:

That afternoon I visited the new TeamLab Biovortex, which opened on October 8, 2025. This is the largest TeamLab museum. Unlike the TeamLab Planets, where I waited for over half an hour to go inside, I did not have to wait in line before going inside this one:

The train to Fukuoka stops at a station called "Hakata." It was Thanksgiving day. I took an early train to Fukuoka. After leaving my bags at the hotel I took another train to Takeo Onsen. I wanted to get another chance to see these beautiful lamps in what's perhaps the least visited TeamLab museum. There were gardens around. 7-Eleven was the only place that accepted cards. While the town itself looked like any Japanese city suburb, not even grocery stores accepted cards here. This TeamLab won't even let you book in advance. This museum is located on the first floor of a hotel. For the most part, I was the only visitor at the museum and some of the gardens:

Friday was the only day left to see Fukuoka, which included a somewhat small TeamLab museum:

Saturday was my last day before flying back. There were a few places left to look around before taking a train to Huis Ten Bosch, a Dutch park. I figured out that there was a stop at a station called Haiki. No one told me, but I figured out that it was the reason why I was given two tickets. This is part of what I saw in the morning and then later on in the park that evening:

I had already purchased my return train before even taking the train to this park. I didn't expect the park to be so big, so I almost missed my train back to Fukuoka. On my way back, I got an Uber (yes, luckily they were available) to Haiki station, as I had already missed the train from Huis Ten Bosch to Haiki. The Uber dropped me off in a neighborhood that was about a 5-minute walk to the station. I might've put the wrong address when I booked this Uber. The train arrived probably about two minutes later. I could've missed the last train of the day and not make it on time to my morning flight to Tokyo, but I made it.

I had a chance to go to mass and visit a garden before boarding my last flight from Tokyo to Dallas:

If you happen to be reading this and plan to either go or go back to Japan one day, I recommend these frozen desserts:

God only knows if I shall live with these elbow and snoring nuisances until it's time to leave this world, but I feel a moral duty to try and carry on while I find out.