Fortunately, some things do seem to repeat themselves, or at least they seem to appear that way. People consciously or unconsciously tend towards looking for that pleasantly warm and cozy feeling of being able to return to places that they never really wanted to leave.

Well, I feel exactly the same way, and that's probably why we are always drawn back to spots that we have visited before. I'm probably the driving force that pulls the rest of my little team along.

But in the end, we all enjoy going back to the places that made us feel so good last time.

For example, in Aizu Wakamatsu, one of our main destinations in recent years. We have already spent several short vacations here in the heart of the Aizu region in the west of Fukushima Prefecture and each time we have grown more fond of this area.

We have been around Tsuruga-jo Castle, which you can see in today's two pictures, several times and it has become one of my favorite sights in the city. As I've mentioned a few times before, it doesn't matter what time of year it is and even the weather is generally irrelevant. The important thing is just to be there, and hopefully we'll do it again soon.

We definitely have a plan and we've already started making some of the necessary preparations. Of course, a lot of things can still happen that mess up those plans, so as usual I'm still a little skeptical as to whether we can actually put our ideas into practice. We won't really know until the day we leave, a lot can still happen before then. But I remain optimistic and sometimes get myself in the right mood. For this I only need to look at one of my many pictures from our previous trips to this interesting region.

Let's see, hopefully we'll soon be standing in front of an Akabeko again, one of the striking red cows that have become a trademark of Aizu. I would be very happy to meet up right here at this spot, and I know a few others who feel the same way as I do....