Kanazawa, Japan

Saturday, April 19, 2019                             Kanazawa, Japan

This morning the ship docked at 8:15am and our little group hired a cab to take us into the Japanese Alps to the little village of Shirakawago, a World UNESCO Heritage site since 1995. Traveling by car we passed acres of rice paddies and small communities. 

                                                              What a magnificent drive!

We passed through numerous tunnels in the mountains to reach this ancient agricultural village. 

                                           We crossed this river on a swinging bridge.

 This style of house was built during the 10^th century, the unique village was rebuilt during the Shogun Era, 1600-1800’s with two story huts and barns having thatched type roofs known as gassho-zukuri. 

                                         Old fire plugs were spotted throughout the village.

Signs were everywhere asking folks to not smoke due to how easily these building would ignite. 

Numerous small rushing waterways ran through the town, some with huge trout swimming  about. 

                                       I can only imagine the up keep of these style of roofs.

                                           Villagers had their wares available for purchase.

We enjoyed our walk taking in the snow capped mountains and the peak of blooming cherry tree blossoms. 

Daffodils, primrose, and forsythia filled our hearts with the thoughts of Easter Sunday coming tomorrow. The day was a perfect delight…lots of sunshine and warm temperatures.

                                                                  Ancient tombstones

                                  Look at the size of that tree trunk behind my man...Huge!

Evidence that a cold winter exists here.

                                     Fish were actually swimming in the city waterways.

                                                                Kanazawa Castle

We drove back to Kanazawa with the taxi driver dropping us off at the Kenrakuen Garden, one of the top three gardens in Japan and over two hundred years old.

 We captured a view of the Kanazawa Turret  in the background leading to another shogun era built castle. 

The gardens had some gorgeous trees in full bloom as well as the oldest fountain in Japan. 

       It was interesting to see many women dressed in Geshia Costumes in the garden. 

From here we took a cab to the train station. The female driver gave us all a thrill by running a couple of red lights and hollering to the other cars, “GO, GO, GO!” How exciting was that?

Our laugh of the day goes to the poster on "How to Use the Toilet Directions". This was a HOOT!

Once at the train station we found the shuttle bus back to the ship, with a bit of old fashion search and exploration. Larry enjoyed talking with a guide from Kobe who had lived in Michigan. We got back to the ship just in time to go through our 6:00pm appointment with immigration out of Japan. During the evening we attended a Japanese Women’s Drum Performance. What a memorable event!  What a memorable day!