2015-05-10, Ready for Some Flowers?

In an effort to soothe the sting of not being in Big Sur (or somewhere) with my boys on Mother's Day I decided to go somewhere I've seen brochures and signs for but have never been.  The place is called Mizunomori (water forest) and it's a botanical garden that focuses on water plants and especially water lillies and lotus.  It is located down the coast of Biwako on a little penisula.  Evidently the waters around it will be filled with lotus and water lillies come late July and August.  For now, there are a few blooming here and there, some exhibits based on them, a video, etc.  And there are lots of other things blooming.

It's not a hard place to get to but quite time consuming as there are only one or two buses from the train station per hour.  So it took me about 2 hours 15 min. to get from my house to the garden - I won't be doing it often.

And no, it didn't make me miss the boys any less, but it was a nice way to pass the day.

This is called 'Devil's Hand' and it's usually found near Mexico.
It's the only one they've been able to get to bloom in Japan.

Don't know what this is or where it's from (not from Lake Biwa).

In the conservatory.

In the exhibit hall.

This was so cool - holograms!  I think it was the story of how the lotus
came to Japan, or why it's a symbol in Buddisim or something.  I was
so taken with the holograms I didn't really pay attention to the story!

 In this hall different artifacts and types of art that have a lotus motif are displayed.

I had lunch at this table.

My lunch - hasu udon.  Udon (wide noodles) with sacred lotus leaf powder in them.
The yellow things on top are lotus buds, sweetened.

The restaurant.

This was interesting, the flowers look just like hydrangea but the leaves
on't at all, and hydrangea won't bloom until June.

A huge wind turbine, it didn't look that tall but
I wonder if that is just because it's so big.

Don't know what that is, but I really liked it.

There was a little playground overlooking the lake.

See those things sticking out of the ground?
They're bamboo shoots.

Kites from boys' day.

Birds from the area.

The happiest of flowers!

Hasu (sacred lotus) flavored ice cream.
A little too much like vanilla for me...

I was actually going to skip the ice cream but I just (I mean just - I saw it pull away) missed the bus since I hadn't kept track of time (no need to since I had all day) sooooo, what else was I to do for 40 minutes???   Enjoy some ice cream of course!