Toyama, 23.04.24

 Toyama, 23.04.24 

We checked out reasonably early as the hotel bus had a fixed departure time. The current owner said goodbye and told us that she was the 46th generation of the inn keepers. That is amazing! The driver was very curteous and took us to a different railway station called Awazu. It was too small for the Shinkansen to stop there and we had to take a local train but only for two stations as we wanted to get off in Kanasawa for some sightseeing and especially for a golden icecream! It was still kind of early morning for us and our destination was not far at all. 

Kanazawa Railway Station Entrance

Kanazawa Railway Station Mascot

Kanazawa is a historical city, very relaxed, not too busy and famous for its seafodd and gold leaf production and also an amazing railway station entrance. It also has a considerable castle and one of the three best gardens in Japan: Kenroku-en. We took a tram to the castle which is very impressive originating in 1583 but mostly rebuilt in 1881. 

Kanazawa Castle

The garden was really the main sight. It is a strolling garden with many winding paths, meandering streams, pools and ponds and collections of Japanese trees like pines and cedars which are all looking like large bonsai trees all manicured and cared for. There are bridges, teahouses, shrines and statues. A legend has it that a peasant more than 1200 years ago passed by and washed his potatoes in a well. Suddenly flakes of gold floated in the water giving Kanazawa its name meaning Fields of Gold. Water from the well still flows to a Shinto shrine where people come for a tea ceremony. 

But the main reason for the visit of the gold ice cream as mentioned above. We found a stand and could hardly believe it. People walked away from it with a golden ice cream cone in their hands. I had to have one too. It was delicious, gold and all. 

Golden Ice Cream

After such excitement we walked back to the railway station passing by the fish market. It is one of the largest fish markets in Japan and the variety of fish on sale is truly amazing. I wanted to taste some fresh sushi, the rolled variety, but could not find anybody just offering a piece. We caught the next train soon after and were on our way to Toyama. 

Toyama was a delightful place. We arrived at 17.45, got out of the railway station and found ourselves in a very modern clean city and not many people around. Our hotel was right there among the new high-rise buildings. Entrance was through a department store, lift up to second floor and reception. Room up about eight floors overlooking the square. Nice. 

Toyama Railway Station

We had a walk around mainly to find a restaurant and check the timetable for trains to our excursion the next day. The restaurants were hard to find so we made our way back into the department store where there was a floor all with different eateries. 

We found one and ordered a meal set with chicken and coleslaw salad. It came with sashimi first, then miso soup followed by the chicken. We ordered two beers and they were so delicious we finished them quickly and ordered two more!