Kanazawa

As it was a weekend that we arrived in Kanazawa, the station was pretty packed and we had trouble looking for lockers to place our luggages. Most of the lockers were taken up, and the fact that my luggage would need the biggest size locker, it was definitely not the easiest task at hand. After spending about 45minutes looking for lockers, we finally found a place that we could leave our luggages for at 420yen per piece, which was a pretty decent rate.

Finally we made our way to Kenrokuen, one of the 3 famous gardens in Japan. Originally the outer garden of Kanazawa Castle (built in the 17th century), it was opened to public in 1874 and made the Natural Site of Scenic Beauty in 1922. The Kenrokuen Garden has the characteristics of a typical landscape garden in the Edo Period.

Kasumigaike Pond, the first pond we seen in Kenrokuen

We entered the garden through the Katsurazaka Entrance which was just behind the information booth, which was just a minute walk from the bus stop (There is actually a Kenrokuen Shuttle service that runs on weekends for only 100yen/ride which was half the normal price).

2nd pond - I forgot it's name

Walking along the trees - I just love how serene the place looks.

All in all, we spent a very short time in the gardens in comparison to others. We were told that a average time would be 2-4 hours, and we did it in probably 90minutes. The garden was pretty, there was no doubt, but I wasn't as impressed as I thought I would be. Perhaps its the season. There wasn't enough greenery, nor flowers to colour the place. If anything, I found another garden that I love even more, but that's at another place :). I shall just put a few pictures of Kenrokuen instead.

Plum blossoms - these I was impressed with! :)

Statue of Prince Yamato Takeru (Meijikinen Monument)

Karasakinomatsu Pine

From Kenrokuen, we walked to the Samurai Village as it was recommended by the tourist information person - who spoke prefect English!! The village is located in Nagamachi district and is walkable from the gardens. We went into Starbucks opposite a department store as I so desperately need my caffeine-shot at that time. But it was such a disappointment :( . Knowing that they probably do not put that much espresso in the coffee from our last experience (where my cafe latte tasted like boiled milk with no coffee taste/aroma!), I asked for a double shot. But again, it felt like I was drinking milk. NO MORE STARBUCKS FOR ME! (in Japan anyway :P)

Anyway, I digress. When Kanazawa was completed in the 17th century, 3/4 of the housing was samurai houses. However, although promoted as Samurai Village, not much of the houses there are samurai houses. In fact, most of them looked just like the old private houses that we've seen in Takayama. We only stumbled onto one Samurai House that was open to public - and even that, it was by chance. Because there was a huge tourist group when we were there, we did not go into the house, but took pictures around it instead.

Pretty looking houses while walking to Samurai Village

Outside Samurai House

As we still had some time to kill before the train to Himeji, we walked to Omicho Market to take a look.

Omicho Market

The market was bustling eventhough it was late afternoon. I actually like going to market in foreign places to listen to the conversation, the goods sold, the colours, the noise, the environment. It's all very interesting and fun to be in situation although I don't know what they are saying most of the time. Some might say I'm nuts for wanting to go to a wet market, but it's the best place to be to observe the people and culture. Especially in a foreign land.

Crabs, crabs & more crabs!

More stalls

Couldn't resist taking photos with these frog-railholder-at-construction-sites thingys. Aren't they the cutesttt??? :)

From Omicho, we went back to Kanazawa Station to catch our train to Himeji, but not before dinner. There was actually a pretty big food court styled area located in the station. The price range between each shop was pretty variable, but I think we did get a pretty good deal for our dinner. Although we have had to stuff our faces with food rather quickly as we did not have much time.

My fulfilling 780 yen dinner :)