Castles, Gardens, Shopping in Okayama, WTRD 26 of 49 - Halfway, September 29, 2017

Butterflies and Flowers along the Asahi River

Our little hobbit room has room darkening shades, 

and I slept in until 8:30.  That is remarkable for me, since 5:30 or 6:00 is my wakeup norm.  Russ had awakened earlier but let me sleep and scrunched himself under the tiny desk on the tiny stool with no place for his knees.

After our continental breakfast looking out large picture windows of the street below, 

we took off by foot to visit Okayama castle first built in 1597 and the Korakuen Garden.  Our walk to the castle took us by the Okayama Symphony Hall.

This Mom waits for light.  She has either dropped off the other kids or is planning a bigger family.

Intrigued by the stair case we went up to look around, but a conference was in session, so stayed outside the Halls.

We had a great lunch in a little cafe overlooking the river and castle, 

Okayama Castle (museum on the inside)

Called the Crow (Blackbird) Castle because of the black (somewhat faded now) color

Magnificent views of Okayama.

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Korakuen Garden

The Japanese feudal lord, Ikeda Tsunamasa, daimyo ordered the construction of the garden in 1687.  It was completed in 1700. In 1884 the garden was opened to the public.  The gardens are impressive and serve as a beautiful backdrop for wedding photos.

Bamboo Forest

KOI feeding frenzy

Frogs' eye view from pond looking up at lotus leaf.

Geocaching & Shopping

After a refreshing rest at our hotel, we set off again toward the train station to find a geocache.  Success!  We looked for three of them the day before in Kurashiki and didn't find any of them.  We continued our walk just taking in everyday sights and sounds of Okayama.

We had an Italian dinner at an underground mall, and then for evening entertainment, we went into the four story Bic Camera store.  

We have never seen anything like this, maybe a Frys on steroids.  It was a cacophony of sounds being emitted from thousands of electronic devices, stereos, arcade machines, music boxes, player pianos.  The store has everything electronic and kids stuff too.  We got an especially big kick out of the men and women who were trying out the massage chairs.  This may be a Friday night ritual.  One guy had kicked of his shoes and was fast asleep.  All the chairs were full.

The chairs about 5,400 dollars, so if it is too expensive, the next best thing is to stake one out in the store for a nap.  Here are few other shots of the myriad of products.

Hair Dryers

Rice Cookers

Multi-door and multi-drawer refrigerators.

Remote controlled light fixtures.

Toilets that wash, dry, and play babbling brook sounds to disguise toilet noise.

Friday Night Fun with the Video Arcade machines.

Need a new suitcase?

All fascinating and examples of rampant, crazy consumerism.  We preferred the gardens but wouldn't have missed this!

All is well with the Worrall Travel R's in Okayama leaving for Himeji tomorrow.

Little Kids and Kurashiki, WTRD 25 of 49, September 28, 2017

Goodbye Hiroshima, Hello Okayama

We said goodbye to our little abode in Hiroshima. More train wise than before, we boarded the correct train to Okayama late morning and arrived at lunch time after passing through numerous tunnels.  We found our hotel, but check in was at 2:00, so we dropped our bags and went out for lunch walking around our neighborhood within a few blocks from the train station.

Our hotel is the big white one, across from canal street.

Another old street covered over and now indoor, outdoor mall. 

The pastries in Japan look wonderful.

We couldn't resist trying the Terryaki Burger at McDonalds near the train station, and sat next to this  little cutie.  She was with her Mom and infant baby brother....and the burger was great!

Our room is smaller than the shoe box in Korea.  We have twins beds and since there is no floor space for the luggage, we have it stacked between the two beds.  Fortunately, we can get up on the outsides of the beds so we don't have to crawl over our suitcases.

I am backed into the corner diagonal from Russ taking this picture with my iphone.  Talk about tiny...this is it.  Good thing we don't spend much time in our room.  After we got ourselves organized, we went back to the train station to take a local train to a destination we had read about but wanted to see for ourselves. It is the city of Kurashiki.  Just as in Okayama, there is a canal that runs through the town, and the old section of town is still well preserved and very picturesque on the canal.

Our train took about 20 minutes to reach Kurashiki.  We sat across from another cute little kid.  He was mesmerized to sleep by the train and the warm afternoon sun.

His eyes grew heavy, his head began to droop.  His mother pulled him over onto her lap and he crashed within seconds.

One of the things we have learned about the train stations in Japan is that they are large indoor cities with shopping malls and great restaurants.  We surmise that many Japanese just eat on the way home from work.  The restaurants we have tried in the stations have been excellent, and we have been the only non-Asians in these restaurants.

The view of Kurashiki from the train station

Utility Hole Covers Are Very Artistic.  Hiroshima was a maple leaf.  Here it is wisteria.

We only need to walk about 500 meters to the old section of Kurashiki along the canal.  It was overcast and cool when we left Okayama, but by the time we got to Kurashiki around 4:00, the sun was out and the sky was blue.

Tourists

Local Artists Working in the Mellow Sunlight of Late Afternoon

Beautiful Courtyard and Event Center at the Kurashiki Ivy Square

After a lovely afternoon walking along the canal and adjacent streets we headed back to the train station, the contemporary focal point of every city.

We returned to Okayama, had a terrific dinner again in the train station and headed back to our hobbit room.

Tomorrow, we will explore Okayama.

All is well with the Worrall Travel R's In Okayama.