3/31 Himeji

Himeji-jo, our last castle of the trip, was unique from all the others we've tromped through because it was the only non-museum castle. Instead of bright lights, carpet, artifacts on display, and brochures in five languages (which we certainly appreciated), Himeji-jo was stark and empty. The exterior was arguably one of the most beautiful we've seen so far. A white palatial complex perched high above the city of Himeji, surrounded on all sides by cherry trees just teetering on the edge of their full glory. We navigated the maze-like route between high stone walls and reinforced wooden gates, courtyards with blossoming cherry trees, finally reaching the main entrance. We were handed a plastic bag to carry our shoes through the castle, and followed the line of tour groups into the dark castle. Shuffling through the empty rooms, lit only by filtered overcast day, we admired the dark wooden floors and expansive ceilings. We climbed flight after flight of narrow stairs that seemed more like ladders (on the way back down, I played limbo with the low-lying beams jutting across at shoulder height, threatening to send you down the stair/ladder faster than wished). Each room had hidden compartments along the sides for storage of grain (or soldiers, apparently). The preserved spaces allowed our imaginations to roam as none of the previous castles had. Once again, at the top of our climb, we were greeted with sprawling views of the city below.



We had rented (for free!) two bikes from the local tourist info group. These babies were nothing to brag about, but as we cruised through the neighborhoods around the castle, we felt very glad to have them. For some reason, Ben let me lead the way, so we got slightly lost on our way to a famous nearby park. Using the towering Himeji-jo as a guide, we finally found the adorable park, and spent some time meandering around the many bike trails.





The day winding down, we made the mildly stressful ride back through town (pedestrian dodging is not much fun on the other end of the handlebars either) dropped the bikes off, and found the local grocery store for train vittles. I found an appropriate shop next door and made Ben pose.



We situated ourselves in front of a giant heater vent at the train station, blasting sweet heat on our tired faces. Ben tucked in to an early dinner.



Later that night, we visited the floating garden observatory in the Umeda Sky building, a bizarrely shaped complex of twin towers joined for at the top few floors to create the rooftop observatory shaped like an alien saucer. To reach the top, we took a glass elevator to the 35th floor, and a glass escalator for the final five stories. Yikes!!! Ben thoroughly enjoyed teasing me on the way back down by jostling and jumping in the elevator. I couldn't pinch him hard enough in retaliation through his thick jacket.



Once at the top, we walked past all the canoodling pairs (for this was obviously the land of coupledom) to the outdoor observation deck. A circular promenade perched on a larger circular base meant we couldn't see the sheer drop. The bottoms of my feet still prickled a little, but I felt relatively safe. The floor of the recessed base was a garden of colored specks of light, like little flowers. The observation deck was lit with black light, furthering the illusion of a spaceship, but mostly it provided unobtrusive lighting so we could appreciate the darkness of the night.