2016-11-20, Fall Color in Shiga

If you've had enough of fall foliage pictures you should skip this post - that's all there is!

Emily, Erin and I took a special bus that went to three temples (Kotoh Sanzan - which means 3 mountains on the eastern part of Lake Biwa) that have beautiful maples, and other colorful trees on the grounds.  I wasn't looking forward to getting up early, but when I did I looked outside and found the foggiest day I've ever seen here.  I almost crawled back into bed, but I'm so glad I didn't.  The fog cleared off and we were lucky to only have about 10 minutes of drizzle during the day. It wasn't cold either which is always a big plus in my book.  We decided to go to the furthest temple first and work our way back.  That was a good strategy since we were able to get a seat on every bus we rode. The lines for the buses going the other way were always longer.  There were lines of cars waiting to park at all of the temples and there were many tour buses at each site as well, so every place was quite crowded.
Most of the intense color is from Japanese maples (different varieties of Japanese maples) but there are some other colorful trees as well.  I haven't met anyone who knows the names of the other trees though.  Ready?  Here we go!

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The first stop was Hyakusaiji. This temple belongs to the Tendai sect of Buddism and is one of the oldest temples in Japan.  It's said that it was established by Prince Shoutoku in 609 A.D.

  

From the bus.

One package of these matsutake mushrooms is about $38.

These are $70 / package!!!  Suffice it to say I've never tried them.

Snack and gift stands were set up at all the sites.

That was our first stop.  Onto the bus and off to Kongourinji.  This temple was established in 741 and the 3 story pagoda was built in 1246.  The buildings are not original but some of the statues inside (14 of which are designated as important cultural properties) them are.  Evidently there used to be a hundred priest's lodges on the premises as well.

This sign is advertising those expensive matsutake mushrooms.  I didn't notice how much they were at this spot.

Ok.  One more.  Are you ready?  The next stop was Saimyouji.  Can't give you any information on this one since they didn't have an English brochure.

 

 

 

 

Ok, enough.  That's actually how I felt.  Beauty overload.  Even this morning (Monday) when I was watching the news and they were showing a beautiful temple in Kyoto with an incredible flaming red garden, I thought to myself  'I've had enough'.  But by the time I was done with work I decided I would go to Kyoto next weekend for some more (although not to that particular temple because it's ridiculously crowded).

One more weekend highlight was the gift of a big box of GIGANTIC turnips, beautiful daikon radishes, carrots and leeks from an acquaintance.  And they are organic (very unusual even for home gardeners here.  So far I've made turnip/leek soup, broiled leeks, steamed turnip tops and roasted turnips.  A few carrots have managed to make their way into dishes but most don't make it past the cutting board.  I prefer my carrots raw.  I'm going to bring radish and turnips to work to share because I won't be able to get through them by myself and I can't fit too many into my refrigerator.
If anyone has a good recipe for any of those vegetables please share them!