I couldn't decide if I should take a bus to the station to go to Otsu or ride my bike. I thought if I ended up going to Kyoto after Otsu I'd be really tired by the time I returned, but there are so few buses on weekend evenings that I might have to wait for an hour... so I rode. I was a really nice day, and turned out to be a nice evening as well so it worked out well. Otsu is the prefectural capital of Shiga Prefecture (where I live) and it's where I went on Wednesday to get my visa. It takes 40 - 55 minutes by train depending on which train you catch.
I went to Otsu this time to meet the Uois from Tokushima who were going to see a concert and an opera there in the afternoon. I'm sure you all know Seiji Ozawa. I think he had a stroke or something but is now performing again in short concerts. They planned to see him and then the opera after they had lunch at a very old (we're talking more than 150 years) classic Japanese restaurant called Otsu Uosu, so they invited me to join them for lunch.
They got held up in traffic due to the beginning of spring vacation for students, so I was waiting at the station - without anyway to be contacted, until I finally thought to ask if there was a pay phone nearby (they are a little less rare here than in the US but still hard to find). Having reached them and being assured I wasn't waiting in the wrong place, we decided I would meet them at the restaurant which was supposed to be about a 5 minute walk away. I went to the tourist bureau to ask directions and they had an English map. The woman behind the counter turned out to be from Tokushima and she informed me of nearby towns that will have nice flower displays at different times of year. It should have been a very straight forward walk, but of course being me..... actually I can't claim all the credit for taking the wrong left turn. Even when I asked an old man for directions and he decided to walk with me, he couldn't find the street and we went too far (which I realized when he wanted to keep going). Anyway we found it, I thanked him and he went on his way (which was not in the same direction he had taken me). It was a great place with only private tatami rooms. Ours had a table and chairs on the tatami as did the room next door, but I don't know if that was the case for all the rooms.
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We were served a spring bento lunch, something you might take on a picnic to view the cherry blossoms. First a beautiful pottery bowl with a few slices of sashimi. Then we each received a closed wicker (bamboo probably) basket which we opened ourselves and inside where one or two bites of all kinds of interesting and colorful foods. Kabocha squash, 1/2 a baby carrot, gobo (a root), fuki (?), octopus, eel on a bed of vinegared cucumber - my favorite, and a little bigger piece of fish. A clear soup in a little cup with a clam and chirashizushi (vinegared rice with different things scattered on top) accompanied the basket. For dessert we had a little cup of green tea flavored soy milk pudding with dark syrup and sweet beans (anko). The Uois had to leave quickly since they arrived so late but on the way to the concert they dropped me off at the subway station which would take me to Kyoto.
Before getting on the train I walked to the lookout point where I could see the southern end of Lake Biwa. There was some sort of sailboat gathering, there must have been 20 - 30 little boats out there. There is also a big sightseeing boat that leaves from the port.
The 'subway' in Otsu is like the green line in Boston. It's really an above ground trolley through a few towns and then goes underground when it gets closer to Kyoto. But, unlike the T in Boston, this train runs between houses with less than 5 feet (a guess) between the train and the houses! There was the train rail, chain linked fence and the houses. Had it been a road there would hardly have been enough room for two cars to pass!!! At night I'm sure you can peek right into people's living rooms!
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| This was actually a station platform so there wa more space between the train and the houses... |
I wasn't really prepared for walking around Kyoto. I hadn't brought a map, didn't have walking shoes on, etc., but luckily they had a map of the subway stop area at the station and I found my way around. Actually I did my usually wandering and found some interesting places and my way back to Kyoto station without asking too many people.
The cherry blossoms will be blooming in another week or two so I didn't pay to go into any of the gardens, temples or shrines today. I'll wait since admissions can really add up and nothing is blooming at the moment. But it was still pretty and relaxing, the weather was warm and it wasn't overcast or raining so it was a very nice way to spend the afternoon. I also found a couple of places I didn't know had lots of cherry trees so I will make it a point to go back when they are blooming. Hopefully - you never know with cherry blossoms, one good rain or strong wind and they're gone, possibly before you've had a chance to see them. That's why they were chosen as Japan's national flower (long ago). They were considering ume (plum) and sakura (cherry) blossoms. Both are beautiful, and I actually think the plum trees' branches are much more interesting - very twisty, ume have a soft but beautiful smell, and they are much more hardy. But the decision makers felt that sakura were like soldiers that die in war. They don't have a chance to get old and wither, they fall and die in their prime when they are still young and beautiful.
Back to my wandering. I found some temples with gardens that I had not seen or heard of before so I will put them on my list to visit in flowering seasons. I ended up at Heian Shrine - which is the image on the 10 yen coin. Kathy and I went there in May when the wisteria were blooming and we were lucky enough to enjoy a local tea tasting. We didn't go into the garden at the time because there were more than enough flowers blooming outside. But it turns out that the garden there is full of a late blooming weeping type of sakura and they are usually in full bloom around April 10. I will try to go back for that although most of the other trees in Kyoto will be blooming late next week to the first weekend in April. I will probably try to do both.
I took a bus back to Kyoto station, if I am in that area again I will probably try the subway as the bus takes so long. While on the bus I passed quite a few places that Kathy and I had visited together and I remembered how much fun it was to have her walking around with me. I arrived at the station which was, as always packed with people, at just the right time to catch the next express train to Hikone. In Hikone I retrieved my bike from the bike garage and headed home. As I rode away from the station I was treated to a view of one of the castle keeps (I think that's the word) lit up against the black sky. It will really be something when the sakura around the castle are blooming!
I stopped at the supermarket and got some of the worst sandwiches I've had in Japan (tiny bits of filling and those weren't very good...). Japanese sandwiches are like English tea sandwiches and are usually a good break for me from salty Japanese food but not these. Actually, and this is probably a good thing, the prepared foods at the supermarkets in Hikone are really not very good. I say it's a good thing because part of the reason that I gained weight at the end of my last stay was that I started eating more prepared food! I can't see myself doing that here.
Tomorrow I will go to an electronics store to look into internet service, a cell phone and a small laptop. I'd really like to be able to share pictures with you!!!
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