View from the ferry to the island - to the right is the mainland, left is Miyajima.
The little things in the water are oyster farms.
For some reason deer roam through the town almost unimpeded. They like human food.
And they like it when the kids pet them (i.e., this usually leads them to more food)
This is the "floating" torii outside of the shrine.
It doesn't actually float, but isn't very firmly anchored in the ground.
A closer look reveals the twisty logs that serve as the main pillars.
Us in front (me=kakui, Rachel=genki)
As we were leaving on the ferry we noticed that the tide had gone out and people can walk on the beach around the formerly floating torii - this picture doesn't quite do justice to the swarm.
---------
Osaka castle was amazing - I've been fairly obsessed with the epic types of samurai movies, so it was kinda awesome to actually go to one of these places. Osaka castle was one of the power center of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who tried to unite Japan in the late 16th century and whose efforts led to the later Tokugawa shogunate.
Two pictures of the outer moats surrounding the castle complex - this is part of the newest building. It's probably hard to see but these walls are pretty steep and relatively smooth.
One of the first gates on the outside - the black-lacquered wood is awesome.
One part of the inner moat, now flooded with vegetation instead of water.
After 10 minutes of walking we made it to the center of the castle complex. Here is genki Rachel posing in front of it.
Entrance to castle.
View from the top
Afterwards we met up with Yumi and had pudding - my cup had flan on top of a bed of cream, cake, cream and pears.
Then we had a dinner of omu-rice: rice wrapped up in a thin, fluffy omelette.
Finally, view of river in the namba area before heading back to the hotel.
No comments:
Post a Comment