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Today I left the Kisanuki's who I stayed with last night.
Hatsue and I caught the train to Odawara together. Then, I caught the Shinkansen to Maibara where I met Masako Sakai who was my AFS counsellor when I was an exchange student in Japan.
When I arrived in Maibara I met Masako at the bus stop where the hotel bus stopped. The bus driver took my suitcase back to the hotel where we would stay. It was great to not have to lug my suitcase around.
After my suitcase was loaded on the bus we caught a train to Hikone to see the Hikone castle. It was absolutely freezing in Hikone. So, was glad that I rugged up well.
It was about a 15 minute walk to the castle, but was nice to be able to stretch our legs again. As it was still pretty cold in Hikone the cherry blossoms weren't out yet, which was a bit disappointing.
When we arrived in the area where the castle was we went there first. As soon as we entered the castle we had to take our shoes off and put them in a plastic bag. I think that was to preserve the stairs inside the castle. I couldn't believe how steep the stairs were. It almost killed my knees !! Jude, this is not the place to go if you have bad knees like we do ! I was so relieved to get down safely. The view from the top of the castle was just spectacular !! I would have loved to have seen it when the area was in full bloom.
After going to the castle we went to have a look at the Genkyu Garden. It was a beautiful surrounding and so peaceful. When I was taking the second photo with my digital camera my hand shaked and fell in the pond !! I could see it falling and clearly see it in the water. Luckily some gardeners were able to retrieve it, but my camera is stuffed !! Luckily the card was ok though. I was relieved to still have the memories, especially since it had been about 10 years since I was in Japan.
After having a look at the garden we headed back to Hikone station and caught the train back to Maibara. We looked for something to eat around the station, but there was nothing much apart from McDonalds. I certainly hadn't come to Japan just to try McDonalds !! So, Masako and I caught a taxi heading back towards the hotel. The taxi driver didn't really know the area well and ended up taking us to a sushi restaurant. It was one of the worst sushi restaurants I've ever been to. The sushi was very hard and chewy !!! It was so bad that I felt like walking out !!
Straight after dinner we headed back to the hotel we were staying at for the night. It was called the XIV Biwako. The room was absolutely massive !!! It had enough sleeping room for 5 people !!! There was a Japanese tatami room and some normal western style beds. I couldn't believe it !!
We headed downstairs to have a cup of coffee and wonder around the shop in the hotel. A latte cost around $7 !!!
Masako and I were exhausted after all the walking around so headed to bed reasonably early.
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