I was going to go to the parade by myself today but Cindy decided she'd like to go as well. So instead of riding my bike she picked me up in her car and we went back to the food festival to get a little lunch. I wanted to get some more tangerines, hoping they will keep for a while - they're delicious.
We shared some fried octopus, rice balls and hot cocoa. Cindy had her favorite grilled ayu (a local river fish) on a stick.
Then we headed over to the castle area, were lucky to find a place to park, and we walked down the main street which is now lined with red leaved trees and bushes.
The weather kept changing, when the sun was out it was about 10 degrees warmer than when it was cloudy. Luckily when we passed this ice cream place the sun was out! So....
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| Strawberry with condensed milk, white peach, chocolate mint, mixed berry, mango, pineapple, cookies and cream, melon, vanilla, black sesame, purple sweet potato, kiwi and chia seed, sweet potato, green tea, chocolate almond, chestnut - how does one choose??? |
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| Purple sweet potato for Cindy (she never has any trouble deciding on what to get) and white peach for me (after much deliberation). Yuuuumy!!! |
We found a nice spot and sat down to wait. It got pretty cool since it had clouded over. Bu,t since this is Japan, vending machines are never very far away. And they usually have both cold and hot drinks. I saved our places and Cindy went to get the drinks.
The parade reminded me a lot of the Butterfly Parade in PG. It was a real local affair with bands from local elementary to high schools, and the samurai and assorted others were kids from the local schools. I'm assuming the ladder acrobats were professional, but I'm not sure about that.
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| 'Castle festival parade' - It wasn't really a festival, just a parade. |
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| Looks good! |
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| He was blowing on a big conch shell (or some kind of huge shell) and it sounded like a shofar at temple. |
This is what I had really been looking forward to - ladder acrobats. I'd never seen this before.
Afterwards we went shopping, had a snack and then Cindy dropped me off at home. Tomorrow is, unfortunately a work day.
Is there any of the actual castle still there? The photos show only the castle moat walls remaining. Is that true?
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