We have completed preparations for the new spring arrangement classes and we are all really excited about this year’s projects!
Many months before, we made plans to meet with Olga and Yulia in London to share this project and all the new techniques.  For several days we made all these beautiful flowers together – Big smiles… I’m really happy to see that they have begun offering these classes in Moscow and Saint Petersburg.

London has always been a place that brings me great inspiration. The elegant floral designs and a long history of fine china make this place so special to me. We were a little early for the gardens this year but we did enjoy walking around the palaces and getting lost in the back streets… London is such a vibrant city with something to discover around every corner.

Being so close, we decided to take a couple days to see what Scotland was all about. We found the most beautiful scenery and amazing architecture here. The train from London is an easy 4 hour ride to Edinburgh, Scotland. We found a hotel in the center of all the action. And there was plenty of excitement with the Rugby championships in town. The town of Edinburgh offers a great chance to walk and see many sites within a relatively small area. The Edinburgh Castle overlooks the city and was a great way to learn more about they’re rich history.

Having only a short time and wanting to see as many points of interest as possible, we took a guided tour to central Scotland. This is some of what we saw:
Town of Dunkeld with its historic Cathedral.
River Tay, Scotland’s longest river.
A backroads trip through Glen Quaich where we saw snow-capped mountains and a rare Black Grouse.
Taymouth Castle.
Scotland’s oldest inn (16th century) at Kenmore, on the eastern end of Loch Tay. We had lunch here. 5000 year old stone circle at Croft Moraig, near Aberfeldy.
Deanston Distillery. Here we made a short stop for whisky tasting and purchases of single malts.Doune Castle, famous as a location for filming ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’.It was a full day that left us with a much greater knowledge of this amazing country.

Upon arriving back to Tokyo it was time to finalize the staff meetings and prepare for the continuation of the Tropical 2 course workshops. The spring arrangement courses began last week, so we made sure everything was in order for this as well. Thanks to everyone’s hard work we have successfully completed the first round of Tokyo lessons and now heading to Osaka.
It is cherry blossom season here in Japan! So pretty!!!

We look forward to seeing you all very soon.