2015-05-15, Around the lake

I remember the azealas flowers behind my apartment lasting much longer last year.  They had just started to bloom when I left for Taiwan but when I got back the next week they had already started to fade.  But they were still pretty.

I had more company from Tokushima this weekend.  We started off with a lunch of Omi beef.  Omi is the former name of this area and the cows are a specialty of Shiga Prefecture.  Like Kobe beef = cows from Kobe...  The best meat here has LOTS of fat which makes it just melt in your mouth.  Delicious! 

You cook it yourself on this little cast iron thing which has a piece of charcoal under it. 

Then, of course, we went to Hikone Castle, since that's really the only thing to see here!  But I love it and feel so happy to be living in one of the few towns that still has an original castle.  (There are still many castles in Japan but most of them are replicas.)  We also went through the garden.

We also went into the castle museum.  I've never been in there before and it was quite interesting.  My favorite part was the private residence of the lords of the castle.

There were verandas all around to sit on and enjoy the garden view (each room has a different garden/view).  It was quite a warm day but with the shoji open the breeze went right through the building and I could just imagine how good it would feel to take a nap there on a hot summer's day.

On Sunday we took a drive (a drive in a car!!!) around the lake.   First stop, Makino and 2.5 km of meta sequoias.  My friend Yuko had told me about them as it's one of her favorite places and I have to say it was pretty cool.  It was a tunnel of green.

Next stop was Takashima.

I couldn't get a good picture of it but there are two tall bamboo shoots here.  I've never seen that.  I've seen the little ones sticking out of the ground that people can dig up and eat.  And of course bamboo trees.  But not the in between stage.  Very interesting.

Unfortunately I was having some stomach troubles and instead of stopping at the great road stations (rest stops) for local vegetables and good snacks = yummy ice cream, I had to keep stopping for the toilet...  with no interest in food.  Must have been something from Taiwan since Amanda seemed to be suffering from the same thing.  Luckily it seems to have only lasted a day.

Anyway, we continued around the lake, got back to Hikone, had lunch and said goodbye.  Then I jumped on my bike and headed over to the supermarket where lo and behold there was 1 package of artichokes in the 'farmer's section!  I have never seen artichokes here and most people don't know what they are.  I also splurged on some American cherries.  Went home, cooked up a meatloaf for lunches and made an early night of it.