Hello!
How are you? Here is Part 2 of our sampling of your incredible writing on places, and your memories of them, for the collection Places & Traces.
If you would like to check out the first sample, click here.
Let's go! Here's another great recollection of a trip to the place above - London!
Trip to
London
One great memory of mine is the trip to London. I
went there with my mother when I was a first-grade junior high school student.
We stayed there for a week, so there were many places I went to, but I will
write about four especially memorable places.
As we all know, the United Kingdom has Queen. I
went to Buckingham Palace at first. That is where Queen Elizabeth Ⅱ lives. When the flag on the top of the palace is the Union Jack, the
queen is not inside. When the flag is that of the Royal Family, she is inside. However,
we couldn’t see the flag of the Royal Family. Though Queen Elizabeth wasn’t
there, many guards were around the palace. I could see the famous custom,
changing of the guards. They were in a bright red coat and with a black hat
made of bear skins. They repeated walking, stopping and turning around. I took
a picture of them and talked to them, but they answered nothing.
Next, I and my mother went to Westminster Abbey.
Westminster Abbey is the church which is the World Heritage Site. It is really
important for the royal families. They hold their weddings there. Also, many
famous great people are buried there, for example, Sir Isaac Newton, William
Thomson, George Frideric Handel and so on. I saw many graves of great people’s.
I felt something very significant and sacred.
Then, I went to the most famous clock tower, Big
Ben. Big Ben is a part of the Houses of Parliament. Everyone Knows the name
“Big Ben”, but there are few people who know that the official name has been
changed. Its official name is “the Elizabeth Tower”. Furthermore, more
surprisingly, the tower is actually leaning now. It is really beautiful clock
tower, so I hope that will not be the second leaning tower of Pisa!
Lastly, I will introduce London Eye. It is
Millennium Wheel built for celebrating the year, 2000. From the big wheel, I
could see very beautiful landscape. Its view had all the famous sights in
London, the Thems, Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament, Tower Bridge,
Westminster Abbey, and Tower of London. I was so moved when I saw the view.
There were not only old, traditional and historical buildings, but also
innovative new buildings. They seemed to be conflicting, but they were not at
all. From London Eye, I noticed the beauty of the city, London, which has both
tradition and innovation.
By the way, I experienced more important thing in
that trip. That is that I spoke English with foreign people for the first time.
I had been studying English for a year, but I didn’t know so many English
phrases at the time. When my mother suggested me to speak English, I was very
nervous and afraid. However, I talked to a shop assistant once and I could make
myself understood in English. That conversation was just a simple one, but I
was really glad. It is the very greatest memory of mine. That opportunity made
me love the U.K. and English. Then, from that time, I started learning English
harder. Also, my most favourite country is the United Kingdom still now.
Therefore, the trip to London is the greatest memory of mine.
An unforgettable trip indeed. But there are many other great places you've been to as well. Here's a short, but vivid, one about Shanghai:
I took an unforgettable trip to Shanghai with my family over the summer
holiday. The views in Shanghai left a deep impression on me. The soaring
Oriental Pearl Tower, the bustling Nanjing Road, the fancy Peace Hotel, and the
antique Chenghuang Temple are all features of a complex and diverse Shanghai.
When night shut in, the city became a charming paradise. I remember standing on
the deck of a yacht as the fresh wind quietly embraced us.
Leaning against the rail, I saw sprays of the glittering Huangpu River fly
along the side of our yacht. The colorful lights on the banks were twinkling
while the moonlight was dripping through the clouds. Shadows of the modern
buildings were reflected on the water. Passengers on the deck were deeply
immersed in the beauty of the night.
Not only the views, but also the residents, touched me. I once found my wallet
missing during my stay in the city. After searching through every corner of my
room and my pockets, I almost gave up hope. Unexpectedly, an hour later my mother
picked up a wallet from a policeman saying a taxi driver had returned the
wallet. The policeman then returned my wallet very soon.
The trip to Shanghai was one of the best in my memory. As I write this, my mind
still lingers on the views of that city.
A lingering one as well! But of course, there are other places right here in Japan as well, and other kinds of memories of events and situations that are as precious, and as vital, to you. Here are some more about other places and other kinds of memories!
My best spring vacation
One great memory of mine is visiting Iriomote island with my
family last March. Iriomote island is located in around four hundred kilometers
from Okinawa island. There isn't an airport, so we got on a ship from Ishigaki island.
In Okinawa, March 18th fell on the start of the
swimming season. We visited after that day. Of course we swam in the sea. The
beach is a private beach of hotel, so there were few people. I could relax and
see many beautiful fishes and coral reefs. However the temperature in March is
not so high. Although I wore a sweatshirt, I felt cold.
There are lots of waterfalls in Iriomote island. We went to one
of famous falls, Pinaisara Falls. On the way to the falls, we rode a canoe.
When we puddled a canoe, I could see mangroves on both river sides. I thought a
mangrove is very interesting because it grows by seawater. In addition, there
are a lot of native plants and animals in Iriomote island such as an Iriomote
wildcat and a crested serpent eagle. This island is very fantastic!
One of the things what I was looking forward to in Okinawa was
delicious food. I ate many local food such as tofu kanpuru, sokisoba, Ishigaki
beef, and so on. I thought Okinawa food are unique but very delicious. Of
course I bought lots of food souvenirs like brown sugar, chinsuko and sata andagi.
I had a great time for four days in Iriomote island. I would like to go again.
Fantastic! Now here's more!
My Favorite Place
My favorite place is Yamashita Park
in Kanagawa. It opened on March 15, 1930 as a project of recovery from the
Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. This park was built on reclaimed land made of the
debris. Now, this park is famous as a big beautiful park and many people visit
there every day.
When I was a high school student, I
went to school near this park, so I often went there after school. It has a
fountain and many beautiful flowers. They always made me happy. It also has
some benches. Everyone can sit and watch the sea, the sky and sea gulls. The
sea and the sky shows us very beautiful blue, and the cute sea gulls makes us
pleasant.
This park is located near a harbor,
so you can see some ships on the sea, too. If you want to get in a ship, you
can visit Hikawamaru. Hikawamaru is a big ship moored at a pier near this park.
This ship is an important cultural property of Japan and you can get in this
ship freely. If you want to get in a “moving” ship, you can board a sea bus
which flies between the park and Yokohama station. The fair is 700 yen. By
paying only 700 yen, you can enjoy the big sea and cool breeze on the ship. I
recommend doing this.
There are some shops in this park,
too. For example, there is a convenience store named Happy Lawson. It is a
special convenience store, because it has a cafe and a playroom for kids. Many
families visit this park every day, so this convenience store considers them.
Anyway, this park is a very enjoyable
place, so I love this place very much!
A great place you don't have to go so far to get to! Here's another - this time about friends:
My best friends
I’d like to talk about my friends from high school.
We all belonged to the Japanese archery club, so we spent a lot of time
together. We practiced Japanese archery every day and also visited many places
together.
Last year, we went on an overnight trip to
Fukushima in winter and Tokyo Disney Resort in spring. In Fukushima, we enjoyed
skiing. It was the second for us to go skiing with this member. I’m not good at
skiing but my friends who are good skiers helped me many times. After we got
back to the hotel, we talked and played games all night long. At Tokyo Disney
Resort, we rode many attractions. Though the lines were long and we had to wait
for a long time, I didn’t get bored with talking with them. We had a fulfilling
day. These trips are my good memories of my high school life.
There were times we fought over things about our club,
but we are good friends that I can talk about anything with. They always give
me advice whenever I am worried about something. Also, each of them have their
own personality so it is fun for me to communicate with them. We went our
separate ways but I still meet some of them who live near me. Some of them are
still studying to enter their first-choice college and others go to
universities far from where I live. So it is hard for me to meet all of them. I
sometimes feel loneliness but I’m looking forward to getting together again
sometime. I wish I can go for a drink with them after we come of age!
Friends indeed are special. Here's one more about a special gathering of people - a club, and memories of a very special event they were a part of!
My best memory
I am going to tell you about my best memory. One of
my memories is to participate in the competition being held in Osaka. But it
was not a ordinary competition, it was a national competition!!!
When I went to a junior and high school, I was in
the mandolin club. Mandolin is a musical instrument in Italy and it looks like
an ukulele but its sound is like a violin. We were made its orchestra not only
mandolin but also guitars, flutes and contrabasses. My club is very famous
because it was one of the strongest clubs in the amateur mandolin world. We are
participating in the competition every year and had left results.
Two years ago when I went to the tournament first
time, we played the music “Mizuki no Uta” composed by the famous mandolin player,
Kenji Suehiro. It was theme of nature and the birds singing and the sounds of
wind breathing were expressed by various instruments in this song, so it made
me feel like being in the forest. But it was much different to play and we had
to practice in many times. I was scolded by old members but I went to practice
every day and became good little by little. Finally, we got in the tournament.
On that day, we had to listen competitor’s
performance because our turn was last so I was anxiety not to play well and
leave result. I waited very nervous feeling in the backstage. The senior who
saw me said that “Don’t worry about the results, let’s have fun playing from
your heart.” When I heard that, I recalled the effort so far, I gained
confidence. I went on stage and saw large audiences but I didn’t feel uneasy.
Soon the performance began and soon it ended but it was the most pleasant
performance ever. Audiences applauded and some of them stood up. I felt happy
and ever more pleasing, we were number one!!!!! We cried and delighted jumping
up and I felt fantastic!!!
This is my best memory. I have never had any
wonderful experience ever. I am proud of this and it was an irreplaceable
memory for me.
There's so much more to upload - and I don't know how much more I can do given how busy we all are! So take look at these and write some short comments about what you think of them.
I'm proud of all of you, and of being able to upload this great work of yours.
Good luck, and take care!
Images: Top - CC BY-SA 2.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=240183/Shanghai - by J. Patrick
Fischer - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17906551
