Let's go to Shuri Castle

Island Greetings!

This island adventure of ours started back around August this year and it's hard to believe that 3 months have passed already! Some of you have suggested starting a blog. So here you go...our first blog. Please bookmark this page as this is where all the action will happen!

Yesterday was Saturday. It was also Shuri Cultural Day. So we decided to try to go and see Shuri Castle. After a little bit of a drive down to Naha, we arrived at the intersection to turn to go to the castle, only to find out that they were serious about this cultural day! They had blocked off the road and you had to walk 1.5km to get to the castle. We decided that we would do that another day. So instead, we ended up going to a world heritage site, a designated national place of scenic beauty, Shikinaen Royal Garden. Though it wasn't the kind of garden I was expecting, in which I could take even more flower pics for everybody, it was still a beautiful garden.

History lesson of the day - the house and gardens was the largest second residence of the Ryukyu royal families and it was used to entertain royal family members and foreign guests. If you google Okinawa, you will see that this island is one of many in the Ryukyu chain of islands. It's amazing to think, but these grounds were completely destroyed during World War II. in 1975, the restoration of this garden was started and took 20 years to complete.The garden is a circular landscape garden and we enjoyed the different landscapes walking around the pond. I think my favorite part was the hexagonal Chinese style building which resided on a small island of the pond. Think of a Chinese style gazebo with a black-tiled roof which can be reached by an arched bridge which was made from a single block of limestone. Quite appropriately, this building was used as a place of rest. People used to also row on the pond.

Of course, pics are to come so be on the lookout for an invitation from Snapfish!

After visiting the Royal Garden, we also visited the Stone Pavement on the way home. I know what you are thinking. What the heck is a Stone Pavement?!? Trust me, I was thinking the same thing. I wasn't that excited about it, until I saw it. Don't ask me about any history on this particular subject, but it can be described as a water collection area that, around the sides of it were stepped with varying levels of walkways so that you could walk all the way down to the water or walk along the water level at varying increasing levels. And my goodness, were those steps steep! I don't know if I explained this Stone Pavement well at all, but you will see in soon-to-come pics!

After the Royal Garden and all those steep steps at the Stone Pavement, we were pretty much done for the day and headed back home for dinner at a restaurant near our house which boasts the best Okinawan noodles. We still haven't learned much Japanese, but we have learned that you just walk into a restaurant and choose for yourself where you would like to sit. We usually like to sit as the Japanese do, on a short platform, after you have removed your shoes. Yes, you sit on your butt on this platform made of tatami mats which are made of straw (and very stinky when brand new!).There's no English menu at this restaurant but luckily for us, they have pictures on their menu which is the only way we know how to order, by pointing, because none of the waitresses speak any English. After taking your order by pointing, bringing you your food, and leaving your bill on your table, the waitresses never come back to bother you again. At the end of the meal, 2 bowls of pork (lots of pork on this island) noodle soup, I still find myself counting all my coins in order to make sure that I have enough to use to pay for dinner instead of having to pay with bills. Everything up to $10 is in coins!

Which brings us to today and a more mundane Sunday. It started out rainy, though as I write this, the sun is now shining. There is a village festival going on on the other side of the island in an area called Yomitan. Perhaps we will go, perhaps not. To find out if we did or not, stay tuned to this, our new blog!