Golden Week Part II: Wherein the Hero Takes a Bath
On Friday, May 3rd, 2013, We were once again on vacation from work. So my friend and I took a loooooooooooooooooooong drive. When w got to where we were going, it turned out where we were going was a castle! Japan is chock-full o' castles, which is really great because I love castles and I hope to some day live in one.
My friend said "Eh, this castle is kind of small," but I was thinking "How much room do you need?!" Then right after that I was thinking "Boy it sure would be cool to be a samurai standing out front of this very castle with a big goofy grin on my face."
Shortly after I had that thought, we were approached by a ninja out front of the castle who offered to make us into samurai warriors with big goofy grins on our faces standing out front of this very castle. I am not joking about the ninja. But the ninja may have been joking about being a ninja. But it was that kind of joke where you are dressed like a ninja and you don't say whether or not you're a real ninja and then *poof* you vanish in a puff of smoke, vowing to avenge your family's honor.
Keep an eye on the ninja in purple at the top of the steps.
*Poof* No ninja.
But wait! I need to back up. The walkway up to the castle was really quite beautiful. Here's a photo of it:
And as you approach the top, if you're quiet you might catch a glimpse of the Mother of the Birds in her wild habitat:
Ok, back to me being a samurai:
And who is this right at the top of the castle? I recognize that face!
Next we had lunch at a nice little place with an old friend of my friend. Here is a picture of what I ate. That is a whole crab, some fish eggs, I see most of an octopus tentacle laying there in the middle, I believe that's a raw shellfish just to the left of the tentacle. It was fantastic! And I forgot to take a picture of dessert before I ate it, but it looked like little eyeballs. But it wasn't.
After all that, we finally went to bathe. As I mentioned at some point to someone in time and space, I have some tattoos so we had to find a public bath with a private room. Most public baths have signs up that say "No tattoos allowed" or "Please leave your tattoos in your locker" or "Tattoos must be on a leash." So I thought I would never have a chance to experience a Japanese public hot spring bath. Then I did. I should have taken some photos of the room and the view (it was partially outdoors), but by then I was pretty naked so I was feeling too shy to take nature photos.
But here is a series of photos of me in a Japanese hot spring, in case you're curious. You may want to cover your children's eyes.
After the bath, we visited he ocean and drove the long way around the peninsula to get home and saw a lot of great sights and ate some deep fried potatoes on a stick.
I could post a million photos here of our trip, but I won't this time. I think you've seen enough. But keep in mind this was only day 1 of our 4 day weekend.
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