Takamatsu, one year later... １年ぶり高松...

Continuing on with my spring vacation series...

On Sunday, I got up bright and early to catch the ferry in Kobe to go to Takamatsu.  The ferry I caught left at 8am, but it was advised get there at least 30 minutes before.  So I left my house around 6:30....It was a beautiful day, already warm, the sun just starting to shine.  Nothing but good could come of that!

I walked down to the port terminal (there was a bus that goes from Sannomiya...but I decided I had the time to get there, so I'd save myself ~200 yen and just enjoy the weather).  Actually, on the way there, just before I got to the terminal building, I saw that bus.  If you were wondering, it was only about a 15 minute walk to get the the ferry terminal from Sannomiya station.

Before you buy your ticket, you have to fill out a piece of paper,  but it's really easy.  Alll you need is your name, phone number, address, where you're going and if you want it to be return or one way.  Really simple.  One way the ferry cost 1990 yen, but return is 3480.  So cheap!! The return ticket is less expensive than one way on the bus to Kobe! Once I got on the ferry itself, I wandered around for a little bit...there were 3 or 4 floors, and had many different rooms...Japanese style, so you could sit/lay on the ground, and rooms with many chairs and booths.  Since there weren't so many people on board, I was able to get a whole little booth next to the windows all to myself.

In total, the ferry ride took about 4.5 hours, but we also had to stop in Shodoshima to let some customers off and others on, so that added to the time as well.  As we were getting ready to dock in Takamatsu, I was waiting at the stairs for an older woman who had been sitting near me to get down the stairs.  She turned around and apologized for being slow, but I told her not to worry, it was fine, and she could take all the time she needed.  After that her husband, decided it was his turn to talk with me.  And he was so excited. "You are beautiful! So special!! Really beautiful girl!" (Did I mention he had been drinking somewhat on the ride there?)  That type is harmless though.  And his wife basically told him that I was so surprised and he should stop talking. 笑

After getting off the ferry, outside of the terminal, a courtesy bus that takes you to Takamatsu station was waiting. Courtesy, therefore free! Yay!



Long time, no see, Takamatsu station

Originally, my plan had been to drop my things off at the hotel, and then go catch a train to go to a place that I had been meaning to go to, but never had the chance.  However, I was SO tired (getting up early, and not a lot of sleep recently, so I just went to Sunport, checked out the little market that was going on and then wandered around in Sunport for a while.  During that time, another old man crossed paths with me.  He stopped and turned back around to ask me where I was from.  After that, he headed back to his groups of friends, and they all started to giggle like little kids. Cute...??

This giant sculpture? wasn't here last year...It's HUGE! Apparently made by a Taiwanese artist...

After that, I went down to Ritsurin for a couple hours of wandering around.  Ritsurin has 2 really nice plum orchards, and I thought they would be nicely in bloom because the ones in Kobe weren't 100% ready yet.  Unfortunately, Takamatsu ume are apparently much faster than Kobe...some had already started to lose their blossosms.  Can't win them all I guess.  But they did still have some that were nice...

Check out this cute yellow bird!!

After that, in the evening I met up with some of the ladies I used to work with to go for dinner.  We ended up going to one of those ladies' friend's Chinese restaurant.  The food there was DELICIOUS!!  And because she was a friend, we got many service items that we may not have gotten otherwise, so that was extra special.  I also got the chance to talk together with the 5 ladies who were able to come out that night to join me, which was even more special!  I got to hear about things that were going on and we laughed a lot!  It was great!! So. Much. Fun.  They also all seemed really surprised when I answered their questions in Japanese in Japanese.  So I got many compliments on how much my Japanese has improved.  At the end of the night, 2 of them walked me back to my hotel (it was close), which they didn't need to do, but was so kind of them!

 

 

Dessert time!

The next morning, I met up with another lady who I used to work with at Starbucks, because she hadn't been able to make dinner the previous night. We had a really nice chat together as well.

After that, I spent some time to myself, before heading off to Youme town where I was supposed to meet up with Narumi, my very good friend, who it had been far too long since I'd seen her.  The two of us went and visited the school together.

When we got there, the kids went insane.  Instant rock-star status.  They couldn't stop saying my name, jumping up and down, giving me hugs, asking if I remembered them, and asking a million and one questions.  It felt good.  This was in the oldest kids classroom.  When I went to the classroom I used to teach in (the middle of the group in terms of age), they were much quieter (probably for a couple reasons).  They had just been up from nap, they were babies when I left, and they were a little bit shy.  It was fine though, surpringly some of them actually remember me and came to get hugs, whereas others just froze. Narumi and I stayed to talk and play with the kids until they went home, and then we talked together with the other teachers about various things.

That night, after we left the school, Narumi and I went out to dinner -- we had so much to talk about (and in as a point of interest...we talked in 95% Japanese, 5% English)!!  We went to this little retro izakaya type place downtown.  I wish we had more time, because I wanted to talk with her so much more!  Next time....

The two of us also did a silly photo shoot with an app on her phone.  It made us laugh a lot.  Too much?

 

 

The next day, which was my last full day in Takamatsu, I went to the school to watch their graduation practice, and I had been planning to leave around lunchtime to go to that place that I'd been thinking about, but I ended up staying until after 3pm, because I took more time to play with the kids.  It also happened to be White Day, and so they had a kind of party, where they gave out sweets to each other.  Even I got some.  I was so surprised!  Actually, they made it really hard to leave because they kept hugging me and wouldn't let go of me, saying things like, "I love you" "I missed you" "I want you to stay forever" "Don't go" and "See you tomorrow".

After saying my goodbyes to everyone, I headed back down to where my hotel was, picked up train tickets for my next adventure, and got myself some dinner.  I went for udon because, well, that is one main food Takamatsu is famous for after all...Not to mention everyone (Japanese people) in Kobe are always pressuring me about eating udon in Takamatsu.  So...eat udon again.... check! 

 

Good night, Takamatsu...

1st day of Spring Vacation (春休み１日目) @ 須磨離宮公園

This Saturday kicked off my spring vacation for this year.　I had already decided earlier that there was a park that I would go to check out if I had the time.  So, I went out and took a couple hours to go to Suma Rikyu Park　（須磨離宮公園）.  From Tsukimiyama station on the Hanshin line (which is about 15 minutes from Sannomiya), it was a 10-15 walk to get to the park, and it cost about 400 yen to get in. 

This park is supposed to be based on a European/French design (in general), although it has some Japanese sections as well.  It's supposed to be famous for all of the roses and fountains that it has.  Unfortunately as it is spring, and not summer, none of the roses were in bloom, but I can imagine how nice they'd look when the are.  Perhaps another trip will be in order this summer...

 

Anyway, this park does indeed have a really large fountain system, both in the center of the main park, and also some really big ones going up along staircases in front of a big cafe/rest house.

 

There was also a little stall selling various snacks like dango, and different types of daifuku (strawberry, orange, pineapple).  I decided to try the mikan (orange) daifuku, as I hadn't eaten it before.  It was delicious...although I think I still like strawberry better...

Behind the rest house there is an obstacle course for kids ... which would probably be a fun activity to do as a family outing...or a field trip... In another part of the park there is also a set of 2 GIANTLY TALL slides next to a park for kids (there's a lot of little playgrounds to be found in various locations around the park). Looks like fun!

Beyond that there was supposed to be a path that went up the mountain some more to an observation point, but sadly, both of the paths to go up there were barricaded off for some reason, so I couldn't go up there... There were a couple of other lookout points, but not as high up as I imagine that one would be...

 

Continuing to wander around the park, there are many interesting statues and various mini gardens.  Some of the mini gardens were for things such as hydrangeas and irises, but they weren't in season, so not so much to see.

This park is actually split into 2 sections, and is divided by a big road, so you have to cross a bridge to get into the other side, which they refer to as the 'botanical garden'. 

 

 

 

On this side of the park, in the center there is a glasshouse (greenhouse) which is nice and cozy and has a little cafe on the second floor, with some yummy looking options, and some unusual ones as well (like rose juice).

There are also paths that are indicated to be good for sakura viewing or momoji (maple leaf) viewing.  Neither of which are in season.  Although there was this one early blooming type of sakura that I did see...but it's not really what you typically expect sakura to look like. 

There was also a plum grove, which wasn't fully in bloom yet, but had some really nice blossoms nonetheless.

Overall, it was a nice, relaxing place to wander around in for a couple hours.  And did I mention, there are lots of tables and chairs set up all over the park, so you could sit down, have a chat, a picnic, or just relax.  Whatever suits you.  I'd definitely come back here again!

I also made a little video with a lot of these pictures as well as some video clips that I took in the park.  I was doing some experimenting.  If you're interested (although be warned, it's about 5 minutes long), you can take a look at it here:

 If the video isn't working, click here to watch it.