Food, Flowers, and Festivals = Fun: 2015-11-1, Food Fair, Bazaar and Ii Naosuke Walking Tour

Today was the rather chilly start to a busy weekend. I ended up sleeping late - which I'm hardly ever able to do anymore - and stayed in bed listening to 'Wait Wait Don't Tell Me' an NPR show. It was a cold morning and leaving my warm futon was not appealing. Chatted with my mom while eating a late breakfast, watched the last episode of my latest Korean drama, made some milk tea to take in my thermos and finally got myself together and out.

I went over to the Bunka Plaza to help with the VOICE Japanese class flea market booth, But first I had to have lunch at the food fair which was conveniently at the same location. There were foods from Hikone's (Japanese) sister cities and other prefectures. I met two women from my Tai Chi class and we ate and walked around together. The thing I wanted most was Takamatsu (the prefecture next to my old town of Tokushima) udon. We arrived just before the line doubled in length. It was good! And warming! We walked around, tasted a lot of yummy things and I bought some Shizuoka prefecture (where I lived in high school) tangerines, kiwis (a new product) and tea.

Then I spent a fun couple of hours talking to many people from my Japanese class and the teachers.

Some of the teachers

I was also invited to join a group who are going to a mountain near Nara (south of Kyoto) for a hike to temples and for leaf viewing next Saturday. I'm sure I will be very happy when I get there but I'm not looking forward to the bike ride to the station at 6:30am! And the ride home won't be much fun either since we won't arrive back at the station until 9:30pm. But I'm sure it will be worth it. And I have nothing going on the following day so I can rest.

Before going home I went back over to the food section and picked up these treats - I tasted them before I thought to take pictures...

A steamed bun with simmered pork belly, 1/2 a beef and potato croquette, the beautiful kiwi and a delicious tangerine.

And yummy pumpkin pudding.

I dressed more warmly on Sunday since it was really quite cold and windy Saturday, but it turned out to be a warmer day, so I ended up carrying my jacket most of the time. I finally went over to the shopping center and picked up some long underwear and a couple of warm shirts. Had a quick sushi lunch and then headed to the station to take a walking history tour.

Hikone is celebrating Ii Naosuke's 200 anniversary this year. He was the lord of Hikone castle. So there have been various events and exhibitions around town. I'm not interested in history but I figured I'd get to see some new places and pick up a little local information. It was about a 3 mile walk to different temples and grave sites. We went to one temple I hadn't been to before and another that I'd been to, but regular people aren't allowed in. As part of the tour we were allowed in, and given some explanation by one of the female monks (I think it's only female monks that live there). It was such a beautiful place.

Isn't this an interesting rock? Noone knew if this was a natural phenomenon or man-made.

This is a god for health/healing. You rub the area that gives you pain and you should be healed. It's turned black in the places people have rubbed most. I think from the gold being rubbed off.

We went up and down some small alleys and streets. I'd never be able to retrace our steps.

An interesting chrysanthemum.

This is the temple the public isn't allowed to go into.

I got really tired in the middle of the tour. Partly from walking (which I never do) and partly from all the difficult Japanese. But I did find the energy to stop at the shrine that is holding a chrysanthemum exhibit since it was on the way home (and I was back on my bike.) The flower heads themselves are beautiful but as a whole the plants really aren't. They are just one long stalk with a gigantic flower on top.