Short but sweet KANAZAWA

We started our day in Takayama but made our way to Kanazawa by train. It was a beautiful ride through picturesque towns surrounded by mountains and rivers. The landscape was breathtaking. It made us really appreciate the fact that we can travel almost anywhere in Japan by train- it allows you to see so much more! When we got to Kanazawa, we decided we could walk to our hotel from the train station because is wasn't very far away. Unfortunately, we got turned around somehow and ended up taking a very long, very roundabout route (we might have been walking in circles) to our hotel. Regardless, we eventually made it. We were both tired, but Eric was a lot more tired because he wouldn't let me carry much of anything since I was pregnant. He was draped in all of our bags and looked like a donkey carrying a load down the Grand Canyon. Well, he didn't look like a donkey...he just reminded me of one.

View of Kanazawa from our hotel. 

Another view...

Our hotel was great, but we spent veeeery little time there as we really only had a half day to see as much of Kanazawa as was humanly possible. Kanazawa is no tiny town. It developed around a castle complex in the city center, and today, more than half a million people live there. It is famous for its pottery. The castle complex and Kenroku-en garden area turned out the pretty much the only part of Kanazawa we really had time to experience. We started our day there and stayed until the sun went down. The castle and garden date back to 1546. The castle was the residence of various people and was subsequently used as an army base through the end of World War II. It then served as the campus of Kanazawa University until 1995 when the process to turn it into a park began. The garden was even cooler than the castle and we enjoyed walking through it during the day and at dusk. It seemed to take on a whole new life with the changing position of the Sun. We walked around Kenroku-en until our feet couldn't take any more- it was so beautiful! We didn't want to miss anything!

Kanazawa Castle

View of Kanazawa from Kenroku-en garden.

 Kenroku-en garden

That's one old tree!

Tea house in  Kenroku-en garden.

We were almost as hungry as our feet were tired. We picked out a restaurant for dinner after reading reviews about popular pizza places in the city. We came across reviews for a place called The Cottage, which was described as an Irish-Italian restaurant. Again...intriguing. We walked from the park to the restaurant only to find that it was still closed for lunch and would not open for dunner until later. We had a little time to kill so we decided to explore the area around the restaurant.

As a side note, when we first arrived at the castle complex I started seeing spots and stars. This was the second time this happened to me on the trip. The first time was in Tokyo, but I was able to talk to my mom and explain that it had happened after a particularly tiring day. She assured me that I was probably fine, just tired and dehydrated. When it happened again, I got a little nervous that it had to do with my blood pressure. This prego didn't want to take any chances! I threw around the idea of trying to go to a clinic or hospital to have my blood pressure checked, but decided that instead I would try not to worry about it and I would call my doctor's office on Monday to talk it over (we were in Kanazawa on a Saturday). If we came across a drug store,  Eric decided we would buy a blood pressure monitor so I could check my pressure for peace of mind. I continued to see spots and stars throughout the day and became increasingly more nervous (nervous Nancy over here...).

Low and behold, during our walk around the restaurant's block, we came across a little drug store and we were able to buy a blood pressure monitor! What an exciting vacation purchase! I decided I would take my BP when I got back to our room that night. The drug store endeavor (along with a little help from a shopping mall across the street) allowed us to kill enough time before dinner so we made our way back to The Cottage. Our meal there was THE most memorable dining experience of our trip.

Momo & Tony

The restaurant was run by a real Irishman, who went by Tony, and his wife, Momo (a Japanese woman). They met in Ireland working at an Irish-Italian restaurant there. They had returned to Kanazawa to take care of Momo's aging mother. They both missed Ireland terribly, but enjoy running The Cottage. Like our friend in Takayama at the Mexican restaurant, they run the entire operation alone. Their advertisement strategy for The Cottage is solely word of mouth. Their menu was super simple...only a couple of options, but they made the pasta (and everything else really) in-house. Really! We saw them do it. While Tony was making our pasta sauce, he went outside to the front of the restaurant to snip herbs from the flower boxes. Momo fussed over me after finding out I was expecting. She gave me a little bigger portion (for the baby) than Eric for just about every course and made me a special lemon drink then a special cup of tea. She was one of the sweetest people we've ever met. For a long time, we were the only patrons in the restaurant and were able to visit a lot with Momo and Tony. A little while later, four other customers came in. And would you believe it? Momo remembered one of them by name FROM SEVEN YEARS AGO! She really was amazing.

In addition to having amazing personalities, they were also very good chefs. We thoroughly enjoyed our meals and, again, enjoyed the element of friendliness with other patrons that comes with dining in tiny establishments. We found out from the four other diners that Kenroku-en garden was going to be lit by lanterns for the last time in a once-a-year only lantern lighting period.They strongly encouraged that we go back, even Tony and Momo chimed in about how special the experience is. Eric and I were EXHAUSTED and really contemplating going directly back to the hotel and to bed. But somehow, over my special cup of tea and Eric's tumbler of Irish whiskey...we decided to head back to  Kenroku-en. We gave Momo a hug goodbye and were on our way.

Seeing it at night and lantern-lit was truly remarkable. Once we got there, we found the energy to walk around for a couple of more hours. It was stunning. If only the pictures did it justice...

We quite literally dragged our feet back to the hotel. By the time we got back, my feet were so tired I was nearly in tears. Eric too, though he was too tough to admit it. When we got to our room, I opened up my new toy: the fancy blood pressure monitor. I had a meltdown when I (thought I) discovered that it did not come with any batteries. Eric, being the champ he is, without fuss, put his shoes back on and headed down the street to the Lawson's (convenience store). He came back with batteries (and beer) and handed them to me. I put them in the machine and went to read the directions for how to use it. As I unwrapped the directions, two batteries rolled out into my hand. I held open my palm and guiltily looked over at Eric. He just smiled and said, "that's why I love you." And that's why I love him.

I took my blood pressure and all was well. We went to sleep that night happy and dreaming of our next stop: Kyoto.