Advertisement
Kenro 1
Cathy enjoys the view SC writes....We’re back in Japan. Last time we didn’t blog, but we’ll put that right this time.
We arrived yesterday after a trouble free and notably smooth BA flight. We picked up our 3 week Japan Rail Pass (going mad with a “green car” or first class ticket) and hit the tracks. Four hours and 486kms later we were in Kanazawa in time for supper and our first Onzen - wonderfully relaxing. The weather was very good - a great start and augered well...
(Cj writes) Although we’ve been to Kenrokuen before, there was much to enjoy on this second visit. The name means “combine” (ken) “six” (roku) “garden” (en): it combines the three classic balanced pairs of attributes that are regarded as essential to a great landscape garden - spaciousness and seclusion, artifice and antiquity, watercourses and panoramas. Kenrokuen has all of these in abundance (which is why Monty Don was there for tv a few weeks ago). We were entranced by the acers (and it was a beautifully sunny day, so a real treat to see the sun through dark red palmate leaves) and by the colour of the azaleas - every one of them precision clipped
Kenro 2
Lakes and trees into either a squared off block (when used as a hedge) or into formal domes or more organic flowing forms. Topiary seems to be a national passion: every domestic garden as well as great gardens like this features cloud-pruned trees and shrubs - I’m definitely going to make more in my own garden. No grass anywhere in the park: all the ground covering green was moss, flowing over rocks, walls and trees. And the trees! Some were a good 200 years old, and many were leaning at impossible angles - whether naturally or by design - and were propped up by stout timber supports. The famous Karasakinomatsu pine is one such: grown from a seed it now reaches out over the lake a full 30 photogenic feet but only a foot or so above water level. And although we entered the park before
10am it was already busy: bus loads of Japanese twirlies with their guides, young women out for a stroll in full kimono, and any number of Japanese and Western snap-happy tourists.
Sc again: we just having a couple days here to get over the jet lag and I was keen to vist the Phonograph Museum again.
Giant pine.
30 metres in diameter...and well propped up This is a great little museum where you can listen to how recoded sound was played back in the early 20th century..
A varied and enjoyable first day.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.065s; Tpl: 0.009s; cc: 7; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0385s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb
