Another Saturday - Another Adventure

What a day! I feel like I walked my legs off but it was well worth it all. I will try to describe some of it through pictures. Enoshima is an island off the coast. We traveled there by subway, train, and monorail.

This is the welcoming kitty with a paw raised to bid you welcome (to shops, etc.).

As we were walking along a walkway that went over to the island, there were shops of all kinds and food galore. Fresh off the grill!

We watched this man making round balls -there is a bean paste inside and the ball is dipped in a flour of some sort and baked. We tried one - good!

These girls are eating something on a skewer - don't know what it was but it was some sort of seafood.

Here you get a flavor of the street with the people and the vendors.

A puffer fish in one of the shop windows.

Headed into the gate to the shrine.

A goddess of some sort.

There were definite directions on how to enter - you had to go through this circle, then around to the right through the circle again, and then around to the left. Of course, there was all the bowing and clapping too.

Such strange creatures!

People were washing their money in this little stream. It is supposed to cleanse it and make it multiply!

The shrine at Enoshima.

Colorful streamers and decorations at the entrance.

This man is folding the flag. I wish I could have got his feet - he was wearing the wooden clogs with the slats of wood on the bottom so they can walk through wet mud, etc.

Another view of the shrine entrance.

Me - Dad didn't get to go. He had phone calls all morning at we had to leave early to travel out there to the Kamakura area.

Another beast.

This was a poster but shows how the railroad was built through tunnels. I love the costumes.

Another poster -beautiful girls and their chopsticks.

Look at this tree! What do you suppose lives inside?

And this tree had such a beautiful shape - beautifully manicured.

Another goddess statue and her attendants.

The scenery is just so incredibly beautiful. It looks like it was right out of National Geographic.

Another old gnarled tree - oh, what this tree must have seen!

These iris beds were floating on the water and moved around.

You just never know what you will see around the next corner!

An incense burner. You could buy incense sticks and light them and put them in the pot.

This was the goddess of mercy for children who have died or been miscarried or aborted. You can buy a small statue to place in the garden for a little one. There were hundreds. of them.

A closer view - some were dressed in little hats and bibs.

The big Buddha! It used to be housed in a building but a tsunami washed it away (many hundreds of years ago) and now it is out in the open. Sister Watabe and I went inside - it is made of brass and is hollow inside. (Yes, I thought of the Statue of Liberty and went ahead and went in!)

Two huge sandals.

Now the hydrangeas! That was one of the main reasons we went to this area yesterday. They are in full bloom and are just gorgeous.

There were busloads of people who came. We had to wait 80 minutes for our turn to walk up the hill that was just loaded with flowers. It was just like walking into heaven. Here you can see over the roof of a shrine out to the ocean.

A view of the people on the trail. There was a light rain but it was still delightful - not too hot!

Perfection!

A many armed goddess.

One more picture - note the various colors.

And yet another shrine. These are the large ones. There are small ones hidden in every neighborhood, it seems.

A bridge leadfing to the shrine. And this is where my batteries in the camera gave out. They got a real workout today. There are so many wonderful sights I want to capture!