Clematis-no-oka Excursion!

Here are some pictures from our fabulous day trip to Clematis-no-oka! It is a magnificent garden, sculpture and art display located in Mishima, Japan. We took the local train from Numazu to Mishima and then a local free bus directly to the museum. One thing I have discovered about Japan, there are always free buses that take you directly where you want to go. The Buffet Museum is also located a short distance away but we didn't have a chance to get to it. We spent a few hours wandering the magnificent gardens and admiring the beautiful sculptures! My parents are visiting in Japan and we will probably visit this garden again. My Mom is doing a blog about her adventures here and you can visit it and see what she and my Dad have been up to! Click here to take a look! In the gardens there is a beautiful outdoor cafe and you can have tea and cookies and enjoy the view. It will be gorgeous in the summer when everything is blooming and the sun is shining. We just managed to get in this trip before it started to pour for the rest of the weekend. I think my parents brought the dreary Vancouver rain with them. Today we had snow in Numazu but it was more like slush. Phew!

I just returned from visiting fabulous Osaka this weekend! It was full of excitement, shopping and great sites to see. We visited the Osaka Castle, went on the sky high ferris wheel and went to some great cafes. We even found a Spanish restaurant..yum! We stayed in the Osaka Castle hotel and had a waterfront view of the river. Thanks to Makensie for organizing it all! It was the first time I had a chance to stay in a real bed in a long time and it was glorious! Many of my friends have actual beds in Japan but I have a futon. There is no way I could fit a real bed into my tiny apartment! I will be sharing some pictures with you from our adventure soon.

This reminded me of going down into tombs in Eygpt.
Alas there was nothing below but a sculputre of a woman and a man!

Our view from the outdoor cafe! There were adorable pillows

that you could unzip and pull out blankets! It was a little chilly
up on the mountain.

Our view as we were exiting the garden.

This reminded me of my Classics Studies Days. It's a tile mosaic!
Click here to view the wiki entry!