Plum blossom arriving and “Good bye” to Tokyo (22.02.09)

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The middle of February brought the first warm days and fruit trees started to show still shy their first blossoms. It was nice to see in the gardens the first sign of the spring and to feel the warm air. Yuki's parents life in the suburbs of Tokyo called Ome. This town is famous for its plum blossom and we visited during our last weekend in Japan the Hoshino plum garden. The streets to the public garden - more a park - are lined with lanterns painted with plum motives. It is easy to find the park. Just follow the lanterns and the crowds. As the famous Sakura (Cherry blossom), the Ume (plum blossom) is a social event. Families gather to have picnic under the trees and to admire the scenery. The same time painters and photographers are competing for the nicest pictures. One guy even brought his dressed up dog and took pictures of it in front of the trees. We were lucky with sunny weather and a reasonable amount of people since the trees were not yet in full blossom.
It was a nice way to say Good bye to Tokyo. We had a great time there, but felt we now had to move on. We said Farewell to Yuki parents and friends and left on the 23rd for exploring the West Coast of the USA.

Practicalities:
One way flight Tokyo - Los Angeles 63.000 Yen (Korean Air)

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