Today we took photos of the most photographed thing in Japan. We’re such tourists.
We went to the island of Miyajima and took photos of the torii gate at the Itsukushima shrine. If you’ve ever seen a poster advertising holidays to Japan, chances are you’ve seen the torii gate. So we’ve done that.
We (by which I mean “I”) also failed to make it to the top of the mountain. I should point out that having come from a country which boasts Kosciuszko as its highest mountain gives one a slightly deflated idea of what the word “mountain” means. You can drive a car to the top of Kosciuszko. We therefore missed out on seeing monkeys at the top of the mountain. By the time I stopped climbing, forfeiting monkeys seemed like a small price to pay for recovering the use of my limbs. Anyway, we got to see deer, which hang around below the mountain. We could hardly avoid seeing deer. We saw one trying to eat a guy’s shirt (he was still wearing it) and another one sniffing a baby in a pram.
We went to the peace museum, but unfortunately got there about an hour before closing time by the time we had unwound from Miyajima, so didn’t have quite enough time to do the whole thing properly. It would have been nice to have an extra half hour or so.
In an attempt to steer away from the predominantly sweet Japanese palate, we had dinner in a tapas bar. It was nice to eat proper salty food again, and nice to see jamon hanging in a shop window, though one course appeared to consist of weisswurst served with mustard and sauerkraut, not your traditional tapas (Tanja and Ben may consider it a worthy addition). However, it was an outlier in an otherwise quite good meal. It was a little strange paying for sangria and pedro ximinez with yen, though. Also strange to see people at other tables eating chorizo with chopsticks.
I have been monitoring this progress very closely – well done for blogging so regularly! Your tapas experience sounds a bit like our kebap (yes, a p not a b… go figure) experience in Berlin. Who would have thought germans could get a kebab so right!
Also good to hear the deer tried to eat the man’s shirt and not the baby. I was a bit worried where that story was going.
xxx
I sure hope you take a lovely photo of a monkey to show me.
In particularly the snow monkey which is a Japanese macaque.
They may have been found on top of the mountain you failed to scale. They are very cute and enjoy a bit of a warm bath in the hot springs. Here is your mission! (no pressure)….. A picture of you and a snow monkey bathing in a hot spring. To make the shot even more special please add some fake cigars and pretend to be involved in a very important conversation. Perfect.
Take care.
Just got home from Sydney. Feel as though I am there with you. Almost exhausted from climbing that mountain – obviously a strenuous training routine is needed to be able to go on a decent holiday. Continue to enjoy what appears a terrific experience.