Tales of the Traveling K

On February 28 I went to stay with the Kimuras again. Yuko and I got in very late because we went after her meeting at school. Her grandmother made sukiyaki for us. Then, on March 1, we went with Yuko's parents to Kitano Tenmangu, Kinkakuji, and a bike trail with a big bridge.

Kitano Tenmangu is a temple where people go when they want good luck with school or exams, because it is for the god of studies. Yuko's mother went to pray for good luck for Haruna, Yuko's sister, who is going to take high school entrance exams soon. While we were there, we looked at the plum blossoms which have just come out recently.







The picture above shows the main part of the temple, where there was a long line of people going to pray. I am sure it gets very busy around this time of year because there are so many entrance exams.



Yuko and I posed for her dad to take pictures a lot. He really likes taking pictures, so every time he saw something interesting he would have us stop and pose. I had him take this one for me also.



The plum blossoms are very beautiful.






Our second stop was Kinkakuji, a temple covered in gold leaf. It is very pretty, especially when the sun is out and it sparkles.





We were lucky and the clouds cleared up while we were still there. Then I got to take the picture of Kinkakuji shining.



We had traditional tea with a small dessert. It was very delicious!



I think those might be real flakes of gold. The dessert cost enough that I would believe it!

Our final stop before I went home was a bike bath that is over 40km long. It has a very large bridge at the part where we went to walk. The wind over the bridge was very strong! Yuko's father took pictures of us there, but our hair kept covering our faces. I wish I had a copy of some of those pictures; I bet they look pretty funny.



I'd like to go back there for a picnic some day. I'd really like to ride my bike there, but it is pretty far from Hirakata, and I can't take my bike on any of the trains.



It was a fun weekend! I hope Yuko will come visit me in Boston when she does study abroad in Ottowa, so I can show her around like she has been doing for me here.

Posted by K. Raila at 8:44 AM Comments