Trains, boats and beautiful bamboo

Wow, what a gorgeous day today full of nature's beauty! We started our day at the Sangano Bamboo grove, it is one of the most photographed places in Japan and it wasn't hard to figure out why. Simply beautiful!
We climbed some rock stairs to the Jojakko-Ji Temple, and walked through a small serene garden. Very pretty.
Once back down we boarded the Romantic train on the Sangano scenic rail for a very picturesque ride through the countryside along the Hozugawa river. We watched small boats from above traversing the river and some small rapids. At the end of the train ride we discovered we would be on one of those Yakatabune pleasure boats. The boat ride covered 10 miles in an hour and a half. The scenery was simply magical. We saw turtles, Cormorants drying their wings, white herons, ducks, lotus azaleas, rapids, rocks and the bluest sky possible. It was amazing. A market boat pulled up next to us towards the end, they had drinks, snacks, calamari being freshly cooked. Sort of the Uber eats of the river!
We got off the boat in awe of the crew of the boat and the incredible ride!
From there we headed to another very scenic temple, Kinkaku-ji temple. When it was founded, it was the center of politics and culture and was used to welcome the Emperors of Japan and trading partners from China. It is a special historic site and registered as a World Culture heritage Site in 1994.
We headed back to our hotel tired and smiling
Another lovely dinner and after dinner wine in the Ambrose suite. Hopefully another good night's sleep before heading to Osaka.
Today was the 8th anniversary of losing Oscar.
After the boat ride we had some time to wander the shops. We were walking through a hallway where the ceiling was lined with wind chimes, chiming softly in the wind. I checked the time and it was just before 3, I thought to myself that it was about the time we were saying our final goodbyes 8 years ago. The wind chimes started chiming very loudly at the same time and stopped as we left the walkway. ❤️Læs mere