I've had an interesting week. Ups and downs at work, meeting people while biking, the school entrance ceremony AND SAKURA!!!
The forecast was for rain all week but although most days were overcast and there was some rain (and it will rain all day today) I was lucky enough to have rain-free mornings and chances to get out and see the cherry blossoms. Unfortunately on the one day with blue skies, Thursday, I had to go to work early to prepare the new Easter lesson so I was only able to ride around for about 1 1/2 hours. The blossoms were not yet in full bloom (mankai in Japanese) but most trees were blooming at least 1/2 way. I went to the castle area and decided to explore the western part of the road as I usually take the eastern route. I traveled along the moat which is lined with sakura (cherry trees) and the road led to one of the 3 universities in Hikone - Shiga University. I think that's the one with the environmental science program (Jake, want to do your master's here?). Following it around I saw some bicyclists go down a small road. I followed them and it led me between a jr. high school's field and the moat which was lined with cherry trees.
Two white swans swam past and at the end there was a fence type thing and a variety of ducks. It wasn't a totally peaceful scene as the baseball team was practicing on the field, but I willl keep it in mind as a picnic place in the future as not many people seem to know about it. I retraced my steps (wheels) and went into the castle area.
The day was warm and sunny, I was having such a good time, the predicted rain would probably wash away the blossoms, and it was excruciatingly hard to make myself go to work... but I did... I had a VERY stressful day at work trying to fit in as much as I could of the new lesson. Actually I had a minor breakdown - but luckily recovered quickly. At the end of the night the owner, who is very kind and caring about his employees, stressed that although he appreciated my concienciousness they really only expect about 30% of the lesson will be completed the first week!!! Well, had he said that to me earlier I would have had a very different day!
Friday was overcast but there were blossoms on the little tree behind my house so I got on my bike early and rode up and down the canal by my house and then along a river nearby.
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| Looking down the Seri River towards Lake Biwa (Biwako) |
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| Looking east up the Seri River |
I stopped and asked someone taking photos of a pretty bush what it was, and then continued along the path under a tunnel of fully blooming (mankai) cherry blossoms.
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| This picture was from the day before when it wasn't crowded...
Riding as slowly as I could because I wanted to admire the blossoms, and because of all the people on the path, I heard a bike behind me. It was the photographer from before. He said he was going to the castle and I told him that's where I was headed as well, and for the rest of the day he became my guide. I don't know if was because he knew I had to be at work by 12:30 or because it's the Japanese way, but the rest of the morning was spent rushing through various sites. I couldn't really complain though because he took me through the castle garden (where we saw a couple of brides and grooms having pictures taken)
and through the castle itself using his own coupons and providing interesting facts about this and that. For example, occassionally the bottoms of the logs used for the gigantic wooden gate doors rot and need to be replaced. If you know to look, you can see the lines at the bottom that are cut like triangles - think scalloped edges but with points - where they insert new bottoms by lifting the gate - he didn't tell me how they do that as we rushed on our way...
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I will continue in the next post...
Lisa, Great! finally photographs!
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