Japan, day 13: Kanazawa

We spent two nights at the Hotel Nikko Kanazawa, which I highly recommend, which gave us a whole day in Kanazawa. This is the day we were trying to take it easy, although I still walked 13.5 thousand steps... but at least without luggage.

This is Kanazawa train station - first, a view from above, from our hotel room (but in the morning), and then from below.

This is where the buses go from. There are two circular bus routes, in opposite directions - we tried to use them, to cut down on walking. We started at the Castle Garden.

The day was overcast, but mostly without rain. We bought Alex a Japanese cooking knife, which made him very happy. We then went to the old samurai district (but there wasn't much to see), had lunch near the Omichi Market (walked through the market too, but they don't allow to take photos of the merchandise, unless you buy it)...

... and then had a very pleasant stroll through Kenroku-en Garden, which is considered one of the three most beautiful gardens in Japan. 

Also, somewhere in that garden, along the pond, I had a stroke of pure luck! We noticed a couple of older men with large cameras and binoculars pointing into a tree... they didn't speak English, but using the international bird-lover language, we were able to communicate, and - it wasn't easy, but I finally saw where this little guy was hiding and made a couple of shots of my own!

This is Japanese Common Kingfisher, not bigger than a sparrow... it is resident to Japan but not endemic - lives all over large parts of Asia and even Europe, but I've never seen it before. This was definitely a bright spot of that day, both literally and figuratively.

Here we are, back at the train station...

... and back in our hotel room, watching the sunset.

We finished the day with a teppanyaki dinner on the 29th floor of our hotel, with a view over Kanazawa. Teppanyaki is similar to what we know as hibachi, but if hibachi in the USA has a strong performance art aspect, in Japan they don't do any tricks. Japanese are serious and precise about their food in general, and a teppanyaki dinner in a high-class establishment is a solemn, almost reverent ceremony, with each dish being a work of art.

> Day 14