Been like, I'd say almost one moth since the last post, hun?Maybe less, I think. My apologies: the last three weekends have been chotto packed up (dunno why they called them weekends, I should get extra days off to recover from them). Plus, during Semana Santa (Spanish Holy Week), mum and dad came to pay me a visit. Which was kind of a relief for me, taking into account that I won't see them again until September...But that's another story, and a future entry in the blog.
Today's post comes to fill the void left by the weekend prior to the arrival of my parents. It happened that the weather was pretty much horrible around the area: wind, snow, rain. Pretty much of everything, I'd say. So why not go for a trip? This time, next to the sea of Japan: Kanazawa, Shirakawa-go and Takayama.
It didn't start well, though. One would have thought that in a country where earthquakes are pretty much like a cloudy day (meaning common), strong winds and rain wouldn't be such a big deal...well, the things is, it is a big deal. We managed to get to Kanazawa 3 hours later than expected, so oh!, surprise!, again running up and down to be able to get a decent view of the city, since we only had half a day for the whole lot.
In the menu: Kanazawa's garden and its Museum of XXI Art. The garden is one of the top-3 gardens in Japan, together with the one in Okayama (been there), and the one in Mito (will be there). Better to show in pictures:
The museum features a very impressive permanent exhibition. Obviously (and unfortunately), photos were not allowed inside, so I couldn't take shots from the one that I like the most, The Origin of the Universe, by an Indian artist whose name I don't remember know (and yes, I'm lazy and I don't want to check it up). A massive hole in a room completely made of concrete. the hole is in one of the walls, and the room has been conceived so that you cannot see the bottom of the hole. Really good....However, I could take pictures from Leandro's pool, the work of an Argentinian artist who plays with the eye. From the outside, the pool looks deep and full of water...but in fact it's not deep at all, there's a bottom glass which allows to get inside:
Of course, for the lucky ones who have more time to spend in Kanazawa, there are more things to do: Kanazawa is said to be the Kyoto of the North, and it has an interesting samurai district, and another one of temples.
The following day we woke up early and went straight to our next destination: Shirakawa-go. A UNESCO village containing typical rural Japanese houses. What makes this houses unique is the fact that not a single nail has been used to build them. Only ropes and wood has been used in their construction. We were very lucky to see it all snowy: a heavy snow took place the previous night. A typical Christmas postcard...in the middle of March.
Shirakawa-go is a remote place, true, but it's worth the detour. And if you have time, you should not hesitate to stay at least for one night in one of this houses. We didn't have time, but I'm sure it's an interesting experience. While we were wandering around the village, one could feel the peacefulness of the place. If you want to get away from it all, this is the place to be!
Our last stop was Takayama. This three places look close in the map (and in fact they are), but I think that because they belong to different prefectures (and not popular ones, neither), the connections are not as good as one would expect them to be. A pity...
Anyway, Takayama is famous for its matsuris: twice every year, the village gets packed up with huge three-wheeled and four-wheeled vehicles, people dancing, and the lot. We couldn't get holidays for none of the matsuris, but you can see them in the museum (which is not the same, but at least it's something). There is also a couple of old streets very nice to walk around, with some museums and lots of souvenir shops...and of course, lots of people.
In the food section, I'm glad to say that Takayama shines brighter like no other: not only has a special and unique school of cuisine (similar to kaiseki ryori), but is also next to Hida, a region famous for its meat (not as famous as Kobe, but also not as expensive...and yes, really good meat). Unfortunately, the only place where you can still find taste the original food from the area was closed to the public due to a wedding, so...but we still could put our fingers on some wonderful food!
Enough! It's not as long as normal, but this time I'm not inspired...I should also add videos, but I think I will do the post with them later on. Too lazy, with this cold weather...and we're supposed to be in spring! en fin...
See you Ozzies!
