Monday, September 27, 2010

Kanazawa Part 3

On my last morning in Kanazawa I was sad to leave the hotel because I had really enjoyed the onsen. That morning when I sat on the rooftop by the windows next to the onsen, I had a pretty view of the mountains with rays of sunshine shining on them. 

Also on the top floor (14th) was a nice area with a bunch of manga. Too bad I can't read much Japanese!

 

Here's the view from the window of that room. The view from the windows by the onsen were to the right of this and there were mountains in that direction.



This is the beautiful view from my room. Isn't it awesome? Haha.



I left the hotel, put my suitcase in a coin locker in the station, and then went to Starbucks for breakfast. I had a mocha and a cinnamon roll. :)


I decided to go to Gyokusen-en Garden and then Kenrokuen again that morning. I wanted to spend a bit more time at Kenrokuen since I would probably not be back there again (it's so far!). This time I planned to not take very many pictures and just enjoy the garden.

So I finished my cinnamon roll and took the rest of my coffee with me. It was still a bit chilly outside, even in my jacket, but the warm coffee made it nice. :) But as I walked the sun came out and it got a lot warmer and I didn't need my jacket anymore. :)

I passed Oyama Shrine (the stained glass one) and took a picture of one of the smaller shrines there.


After a while I arrived at Gyokusen-en. It's a smaller garden across the street from Kenrokuen. The design and construction of it was started in the early Edo period (so the 1600s I guess). It's much much much smaller than Kenrokuen. You can walk through the entire thing in just a couple minutes. I don't think it gets many visitors since Kenrokuen, one of the most beautiful gardens in Japan, is just right across the street. Plus, it only costs 300 yen to visit Kenrokuen, but this garden costs 500 yen.

It's not as nice as Kenrokuen, but it was still cool to visit, especially since I was the only visitor there! I was there maybe about 20 minutes and I was the only person there until one more person came as I was leaving.


It looked a little bit more overgrown and wilder than Kenrokuen. It felt strange being there all alone, but in a good way. It was like I had stumbled upon a secret garden, though I hate calling anything a secret garden because I really hated that movie.




Then I headed back across the street to Kenrokuen.






After I left Kenrokuen (it was sad to leave!) I bought some melon ice cream. :)


When I got to the station I went to the "German" bakery for lunch. I got a roll with raisins and sweet potato chunks in it, onion pizza, and a sugar covered doughnut. When I sat down I realized I should not have gotten the doughnut. I had just had ice cream! Plus I had a cinnamon roll that morning! Oh well... I ate it anyway. :) It was delicious! Then I realized what it tasted like. It tasted just like the sugar doughnuts at Chinese buffets in America. :)



I have no idea what they're advertising.

On the train I drank my Minute Maid cassis and grape juice that I had bought earlier. Cassis is the French word for black currant. It pretty much tasted just like grape juice though.


Like before, the view wasn't that interesting, but it was much prettier than before because of the sunshine! :)
I was glad to reach home after traveling for so long, but I missed Kanazawa already. It had been such a fun and relaxing trip! I've been many places by myself in Japan, but this felt a lot different. I think it was because it was so much further so it felt more adventurous.

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