Monday, March 5, 2018

MuriKaigan Cherry Blossoms

We spent Saturday checking out the early cherry blossoms at the Murikaigan festival.  I wasn't sure what to expect, but I knew we were in the right area when we saw tons of people walking along the sidwalks.
We joined in and found a pretty sidewalk lined with cherry trees in full bloom.  It was very crowded and hard to even get space to take pictures of the kids.

I had fun taking pictures of the flowers.
Then we explored a little bit and found more trees and people.  I think others had a map but we just kind of walked around finding things.


This tree over the water was my favorite.





Penelope also brought her camera and was getting into taking pictures.  I loved it!
After waiting and attempting pictures of the train as it past a few times I found the good spot.  But it was super crowded and I couldn't fit in to wait for a shot of the train under the blossoms.  I think maybe next year I'll just go up early one morning and stake out a spot before the crowds come to get the shot.  There were serious photographers here with some of the biggest lenses I've ever seen.

They had vendors and we got some lunch.

Leon is eating a custard thing, I tried to get 4 chocolate 1 custard and 2 cheese but ended up with 3 chocolates and 1 custard, no cheese.  A friend we saw there also didn't get what she ordered.  I think they weren't sorting them properly after they filled them, because the lady definitly said "cheese," and handed me two.  But they were full of chocolate.
Bob also got some sort of fried fish that was ok.  The way it was fried he thought it was going to be a donut type thing.  He definitely was not expecting fish inside of it.


I like the yearly ritual of getting outside to see the cherry blossoms.  We have these types of trees in America but they are a BIG deal here in Japan.  They have all kinds of maps and calendars predicting when they will be in full bloom.  These were the early blooms but the main ones should happen at the end of the month right when my sisters come out to visit.  

No comments: