Fieldtrip to Kenrokuen Garden, 21st Century Museum, and Kanazawa Castle!

Last Saturday (土曜日) we took a trip to see the three of the major attractions Kanazawa has to offer. We took the city bus from KIT to downtown Kanazawa. From there it was a 5-10 minute walk between the locations.

On our walk to Kenrokuen, a company advertising for red bean popsicles handed passersby free popsicles and paper fans.

(Roughly says: July 1st is red bean bar day!)

When we arrived in Kenrokuen, we lazily walked through the garden. Kenrokuen is one of the 'The Great Gardens of Japan.' Kenrokuen means 'Six Attributes Garden.' The garden spans over 25 acres and was originally formed as an outer garden for Kanazawa Castle. There's not much to say in words about the garden, so I'll just show you some pictures:

After Kenrokuen, we walked over to the 21st Century Museum. It was pretty much like a 'modern japanese art' museum. One of the cool things in there was a maze-like pattern made completely of salt:

Probably the best display was an pool illusion which made people in the floor below look like they were underwater.

Finally, we walked over to Kanazawa castle. There are giant stone walls built into the side of the hill that surround the castle. We crossed a bridge to get to the front gate of the castle. Much to our dismay, there really was no phyiscal castle structure (though it might have been under renovation), but nonetheless, it was quite a sight to see.

These large white towers dotted the walls all around the grounds. In the middle was a large courtyard with small gardens spread around and a big grass field.

And here's us (well, the half of us in this group[and the japanese with us]): (and yes, I look like a dork)

Yay castles!

That's all for now! Stay tuned for my next installment: 'Is Japan really as weird as the internet tells me it is??'