Road Trip to Kanazawa!

Mr. C and I took a mini road trip to the capital of Ishikawa one fine and sunny Saturday. We took the highway along the seacoast, rocking out to Cowboy Mouth and eating konbini snacks. Wakutama-kun enjoyed the ride, too! (Who is Wakutama-kun? By request of Laurén, here's a post about him.)

No trip to Kanazawa is complete without a visit to Don Quixote. No, not the windmill-fighting knight in armor, the Japanese department store. Whose mascot is a penguin. In Japan, we learn not to ask questions about this kind of thing.

Every time we visit this store, we end up in stitches over the wacky and sometimes bizarre goods they carry (pink leopard-print curtains, anyone?) One cool discovery in Don Quixote this time - origami Starbucks coffee filters! Because they can.

Onto more traditional Japanese sights! Higashi Chaya is a very old teahouse district in Kanazawa. The city was not bombed during WWII, so these buildings have survived for several hundreds of years.

Mr. C and I took a tour of an old tea house where geishas once entertained their guests with music. Inside the heart of the teahouse was an open garden and tea ceremonies. Sitting on the old wooden boards, gazing out into this outside space, was so peaceful. I remember being so thankful that my heart couldn't open up big enough to take it all in.

Higashi Chaya has many small shops selling gold items. As I mentioned before, Kanazawa provides for 99% of Japan's gold leaf production. They have no qualms about putting gold leaf over everything - from rocks in a zen garden to bread topping.

Beside one of the jewelry shops, one entire building was covered in gold both inside and out! Beautiful to look at, but you can't touch. The gold had disintegrated where people's hands had rubbed against it.

It was one of the best days in Japan yet!

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