I wasn't sure if Melissa would like Matsushima. She's definitely a city girl, and Matsushima is a coastal fishing town. Very small. Fortunately, I think she liked it. We first stopped at a green tea shop. I don't know if Melissa liked it. She seems to take her green tea with sugar, and this place was very old-school, very traditional. But I think she enjoyed the novelty of drinking in an old green teahouse. Afterwards, we walked around the temples. It was nice and hot and scenic. I took lots of pictures of Melissa walking around the pathways and gardens. Unfortunately, I didn't take any for myself. After the temples, we took the boat tour of all the islands and it was long and boring. But it was a chance to sit down.
After the boat tour, Melissa and I checked out Godaido, a little island connected by a red bridge. There Melissa saw one of her students. She was so shocked to see the little boy who seemed to be in love with her on her one day off miles away from Sendai. The boy seemed shy, but said hi.
Next, we walked to Fukuura Island. I managed to snap a really nice shot of Melissa crossing the bridge. (see above). We walked around the small island for a bit and turned around to go home. Along the way, we stopped at a kokeshi store where we watched an old man make the wooden dolls by hand. There Melissa picked a couple up for her and my mom for souvenirs. There were really nice.
The next week we took the Loople around Sendai. Our first stop was Zuihoden Mausoleum. I'd never been there before but it was really nice. I took a lot of pictures of Melissa wandering around the place. We didn't have a tour guide so we didn't really learn about the history. There was, however, a small museum, which was really nice because it was air conditioned. There I learned that Date Masamune was only about 5'2". Super short. We walked around and it was a nice place. It did creep me out slightly that we were basically walking around a gravesite.
After that we went to the Botanical Gardens. From the picture on the brochure, we thought it was going to be a greenhouse with flowers. Instead, we found ourselves in the middle of a gorge, hiking our way back into civilization. It was something we were not prepared for. After about an hour of wandering lost in the forest, we made our way back to the loople bus. Since we were hot and tired, we made our way to the Art Museum. A building with air conditioning. Unfortunately, when we got there, the only way we could get in was if we paid a fee. A very high fee considering that Melissa wasn't interested in seeing any of the art they had displayed. So we walked out.After that, we went to the Osaki Hachimangu Shrine. Something I'd been wanting to see for a while but never was able to. It's the probably the most famous shrine in Sendai. Unfortunately, by the time we got there our loople pass was almost up. We had just enough time to walk up the stairs, take a few pictures, and walk down again.
When we did, we managed to catch the last loople bus and boy, was it crowded! Good thing we decided to get off at the Mediateque instead of Sendai Station. From there we checked out the glass building and walked around Ichibancho. I couldn't believe it when Melissa actually wanted to go shopping! I was so freaking tired from all the walking, hiking, hot sun, and overcrowded buses. But we went.At the end of the day, I was so happy just to sit on my couch and watch an episode of Chuck.
