Japan Revealed Her Beauty Today.

Day 10 ~ 12,140 Miles

Japan revealed her beauty today!

CAUTION: Long Post to Follow.

We spent the first part of the morning at Kenrokuen Garden which opened to the public in 1875. The grounds are simply stunning and if your mind’s eye pictures a classic Japanese Botanical garden then you’ve pictured Kenrokuen, with its ancient bonsai, water features, moss covered boulders, and a tremendous sense of serenity.

We traveled from serenity to chaos in the blink of an eye and entered Omicho Market where we competed in a challenge of finding something we had never seen before for 500 yen or less, inquire about it in Japanese, purchase it, then present it to our group at lunch. Honestly I had never seen most of the things, with the exception of the fruit. We did not win the challenge although I think our embellished story was the best.

After a wonderful lunch at a “French” restaurant (read Italian) we made our way to the Higashi Chaya District, which is historically a geisha area, for a stroll through the narrow stone paved streets lined with tea houses, small shops, and geisha houses. Each bamboo sliding door, although not necessarily welcoming, called me to investigate beyond the slats to glimpse at what lay beyond.

Next stop: the headquarters of Hakuichi, a leader in the art of gold leaf production. After touring the facility, receiving a history lesson on the process, and creating our own gold leaf art piece, Jay accepted the challenge and had a gold leaf covered ice cream cone. Well done!

We finished our Kanazawa tour with a stop in the Samurai District. Although not on our itinerary, this area is a must see. This District is near the Kanazawa Castle, where Samurai and their families resided and the Samurai served as guards for the castle. The District has a historic atmosphere with restored Samurai homes which are now private residences, narrow cobblestone roads, and canals and stone bridges that let your imagination wander to times long past. We had the opportunity to visit a remarkable fully restored Samurai house.

We ended our evening with a fun group happy hour and then dispersed for ice candy aka ice cream bars.

Kanazawa did not disappoint today (except for the heat and tremendous humidity).Read more