I've climbed up the castle twice in the last two days because I've had 2 friends come and visit! Yeah!! Friends and exercise! I met both of these women in Carmel when Peter was entering 1st grade so... about 21 or 22 years ago. Yoshie's son Ken was in the same grade and we met at a school gathering and became fast friends. Her husband worked for one of the Japanese companies that owned Pebble Beach at the time. And Yoshie knew Yukie who has a son and daugther (the son is also Peter's age) but they went to a different school. They were in Carmel with Sumitomo the other owners of PB. Anyway, during my various trips to Japan we have met and Yoshie has visited us in CA a couple of times.
Yukie now lives in Osaka which is about a 1.5 - 2 hour trip from Hikone and she just came for the day. We walked, talked, ate etc. and had a nice little reunion.
Yoshie lives in Tokyo, which is much farther away than Osaka but she took the Shinkansen (bullet train) so it only took about 2.5 hours. Yoshie will stay for two nights.
The castle and it's garden is really the only thing to see in Hikone which is why I went twice. And it's definately good exercise!
Yesterday I met Yukie at the station and we walked around the castle area, garden and some temples and shrines. We also had Hikonedon for lunch - it's a bowl of rice topped with some shredded egg, red konyak (devil's tongue - that definition is no help is it?), some beef and scallions and a sweet sukiyaki like sauce. For this dish they recommended eating some the way it was and then pouring ocha (tea) over it, and finishing it like soup.
Then we went into the castle, caught the Hikonyan show, walked through the garden, stopped for refreshments, and saw a couple of shrines on the way back to the station. It was a short but nice visit.
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| Hikonedon |
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| The roof inside the castle. |
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| Hikonyan |
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| Strawberry kakigori (shaved ice) - so refreshing on a hot day! |
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| This is made of legos!!! |
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| Yukie |
Today I took the bus to the station and met Yoshie. Before we went sightseeing we brought Yoshie's things to my apt. and grabbed our bikes (I borrowed one for her). Then we went to an okonomiyaki restaurant that I've wanted to try (but not by myself) near my house. I forgot to take pictures. Okonomiyaki is a cook it yourself dish. It's a basically flour, egg, water mixture then you add cabbage and whatever else you want (okonomi), things like squid, pork or beef, shrimp, even cheese these days. It's sort of a savory pancake. You cook it at your table and when it's done you cover it with sauce, mayo, dried fish flakes, etc. There are slightly different versions depending on where you live, for example in Hiroshima they add noodles. It's a fun time when you are with friends, alone, not so much. So we started off with full tummies and went to the castle where we saw the tail end (literally - he's a cat) of Hikonyan's show. Then we climbed up the steps of a very crowded castle (it's a holiday).
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| People in line to go upstairs. |
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| Yoshie and Hikonyan |
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| Me and Hikonyan |
We rode home and I made a cold soba noodle and chicken dish that was quite good (if I do say so myself). We ran out when I notice the orange sky and biked over to the lake to watch the sunset.
Came home, filled the tub and now that we're cleaned and scrubbed we are going to have dessert - ichigo daifuku. I've been craving it all day.
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| Ichigo daifuku - strawberry covered in sweet bean paste, enclosed in mochi = yum! |
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