Golden Week in Tohoku ~ Day 1: Matsushima!

This year, Golden Week (a string of holidays all in one week) fell on the weekend.  Friday through Monday.  Aaron and I tried to plan a weekend in Hiroshima, but that didn't work out.  Instead, we spent the holidays going around Tohoku.

Friday, May 3th (Constitution Memorial Day)

Aaron and I started the day early by meeting at Sendai Station, getting some McDonald's breakfast, and hopping a train to Matsushima Bay.  The train was super crowded since it was a holiday.  But after about an hour, we reached our destination.

This was my 4th time in Matsushima.  But it was Aaron's first, and everyone in Sendai should visit Matsushima at least once.

Aaron had to use the bathroom, but the only bathrooms we could find had squatty potties.  So we searched the town looking for a western-style toilet.  We finally found one at the tourist center near the ferry.  After our rest stop, we tried to go into the main temple, but when we got there it was closed for renovation.  Actually, it still seemed that much of the touristy areas were under reconstruction from the tsunami that hit two years ago.

Instead, we took a side street and found Entsuin (another small temple).  It was still open.  There was a large line at the entrance to buy tickets to get in.  But when I looked past the gate, people were walking out freely and there was no one to take the tickets once inside the temple grounds.  So we just walked through.  That's technically stealing, but we played the gaijin card on that one.  Plus, I don't like the idea of giving my money to a temple.  And no one paid attention anyways.

  

So we walked in and there were many beautiful gardens.  We saw a rock garden where Aaron turned into the Karate Kid, and I imitated a monk (key word: imitated).  We also saw lots of woodsy paths, gravesites (not as pretty), flowers, fountains, and caves.  Too bad I didn't take more pictures.

 

After Entsuin, we had some time to kill before our ferry ride, so we checked out Godaido.  It's a little island with some cool red bridges.  We spent some time taking pictures in front of the ocean and little islands.  And of Aaron being a dork on the red bridge.

Godaido

Dork on a bridge.

 Then it was ferry time.  It was about 50 minutes long and it took us in a big loop around the bay.  I don't remember how many islands there are in the bay, but there's a lot.  Some of em are big with people actually living on them.  Some are tiny with only one or a few trees.  Some are shaped really funny.  And some are just boring.  We also saw tons of oyster nets as Matsushima is known for it's oysters.

Some island that I don't remember the name to.  Aaron was still awake for this one.

About 20 minutes into the boat ride, Aaron was out like a light.  It was pretty amusing to see all these excited tourists snapping pictures at the windows of the boat, and there's Aaron.  Snoring.  Pretty hilarious.  He slept for about 30 minutes.  When we docked again, he remarked, "That was a good boat ride."  And an expensive nap!  $14!

After the boat ride, we were really hungry.  We didn't know any good places around the area and every place looked the same.  We decided to ask the lady at the tourist center for any suggestions.  She referred us to a pamphlet which looked really great.  It had lots of different dishes and it looked pretty exciting.  So we walked a ways, about 5-10 minutes to find this place.  When we got there it wasn't a restaurant at all, but more of a fish market.  On the top floor there was a space where people sat on picnic type tables and ate their seafood dishes.  Aaron and I both ordered maguro bowls.  It looked so good in the picture and the price was not too cheap, so we assumed we were in for something good.  But nope!  It was cut all wrong.  It turned out to be pretty horrible.  Probably the worst maguro I've ever had.  Ever.  Including in Arizona and Hawaii.  

On the way to the restaurant/fish market, we found this guy!

We felt pretty disgusted and cheated after this meal.  So we decided we needed to make up for it by getting some ice cream.  We found an ice cream shop that had a big crowd, figured it must be good.  Aaron ordered vanilla, I ordered pear flavor.  Well, the pear flavor wasn't what I expected.  It tasted more like Melona than pear, and I really had my heart set on pear.  Aaron didn't like his vanilla either.  It didn't taste like vanilla at all, but milk.  So of course, we switched cones and we were happy.  I enjoyed his vanilla and he enjoyed my pear.

After our terrible lunch experience, we had had enough of Matsushima (especially considering many things were still closed).  So we headed back to Sendai.  The bad maguro also gave us a bad taste in our mouths for seafood.  I'd decided that I wanted western food after that for a long time.  So we headed to Tirols (and Italian place) and had some delicious bread, pasta, and salad.  As authentic as you can probably get in Sendai.  

And that was the end of Day 1 of Golden Week.