Wakayama

Ben and I are back in Japan for a few days before we return to America. It's just now setting in that I have to leave this beautiful country, and may not see it for way too long. It's not going to be easy to leave, and I'm glad we get a last hurrah of tourism before we go.

We're staying in a nice hotel in Wakayama, It has it's own onsen (hot spring), which we are free to enjoy as much as we want. They also have massages available, which is very tempting, and incredibly comfy beds.

 Today we spent the day at Wakayama Castle. The sakura are still in bloom, and hundreds of people were eating and drinking in the park enjoying the last days of the beautiful flowers.

 I always enjoy the grounds of Japanese castles way more than I enjoy the actual castles. There is usually a beautiful garden, lake, or canal nearby with beautiful views of the castles.

 Ben loves the castles, because he likes to tell me about how ninjas, and other warriors battled, techniques used to protect the castles, and how he would attack it. He's definitly not the only one, with these fanciful thoughts, as we came across a group of ninjas bouncing around the castle.

 The best part of the castle for me was listening to Ben babble about everything he had ever read and watched about Japanese antient warfare. We also laughed that all the guns inside castle were called "firelocks" in English, but had very specific names in Japanese.












The view from the castle was windy but spectacular, It was easy to imagine the power a Daimyo felt looking down on his domain.









Here's a video of the festivities at Wakayama yesterday.