At 8:02am on Saturday we pulled out of the school parking lot to begin the 5 1/2 hour bus ride to Kanazawa.
At 8:25am the first beers and sake were opened
My first time seeing the Sea of Japan: beautiful! The perfect blend of ocean and mountains
Myoryuji Temple--a 350 year-old ninja house--very cool! Four stories, seven "layers," 23 rooms, 29 staircases, many trap doors, tricks, and surprises, even an underground tunnel that supposedly runs many kilometers to a castle!
Outside Uhoin Temple, where a famous Japanese writer lived
Some of the first blossoms of spring!
This is the sign for our ryokan, The Omori, or "Big forest" Inn.
The closet in the girls' room of the ryokan. While we ate dinner, the staff made our beds (futons) on the tatami floors.
Our room's wooden bathtub
But before taking a bath, one must shower to wash off first--the tub is simply for soaking
While walking down the street, a teacher pointed out a man hanging these fish outside to dry beside his restaurant, mmmm.
At a fish market--the white-ish globs are piles of fish testes. Yes, you read that correctly, fish testes.
More food, but this was much more appetizing. Dinner at the ryokan, lobster & lots of it.
Our server, making final preparations before dinner
Here is what we started with. More food kept appearing for about 2 hours, until I was ready to be rolled to bed.
One of the final dishes: sea urchin. Thankfully I was so full it was easy to only have one bite and say, "No thank you" to the rest. It tasted a little too spongy for me.
Authentic samurai armor
Samurai swords
A group of my teachers under the Ishikawamon Gate leading into Kanazawa Castle
My favorite part of the castle grounds
In the Higashi Chaya District (a neighborhood of tea houses on the eastern side of town), we toured the Geisha House Shima, where geisha used to perform Japanese fine arts: Japanese harp, dancing, Noh songs, poetry, or tea ceremonies.
Check out this incredibly skinny apartment building!
And an electronic/computerized Coke machine. Just touch the screen for all the available options!
2 comments:
A ninja house - that's cool! The picture of the temple - great! That place sounds like the ultimate for a game of hide-and-go-seek or some staged martial arts scene (Just makes ya want to work on your crane-kick).
Umm, maybe I am in major denial here, but they don't really eat the fish testies...do they?? Yikes! Don't feel like you need to answer that. I think I would rather stay in denial. I love you, Sarah! emyinusa
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