Kamakura Overnight Trip- Sunday

Sunday morning we got up for an early breakfast, which was very unlike breakfast at home. I mostly ate rice. And had a lot of hot cocoa. Strangest breakfast ever. In any case, we finished and returned to our rooms to make sure we were ready to go. Futons were folded neatly in the corner of the room, and all our belongings were in our backpacks. Out we went. On the way out, we met the chef who cooked our meals and thanked him for the good food. Then we were out on the road again!

We traveled to the Hasedera Temple, which houses the Eleven-headed Kannon, a statue just over 30ft tall with eleven additional heads placed atop the main head. We were not permitted to take pictures there, but I have a mini brochure I can bring home. Not to mention, pictures exist on the web. There is also much more to the site than the statue. There are many different buildings, each with their own purpose, but my favorite part about this location was the observation platform that overlooked the beach and the long path of stairs to get a view from even higher up. I know I need to post pictures, and I will at some point. ^^ Oh, and I took a photo of a very funny sign, written in English, warning about "kites". Kite means hawk, by the way. Strange terminology.

Next on the list was the Daibutsu (Great Buddha)! The Great Buddha is a bronze statue that is 44ft tall (if you include the pedestal). For history on it, feel free to search the web, as I have not the time to put together a presentation here. Heh. In any case, it was pretty amazing. Plus, we got to go inside the statue! It was really cramped going up the stairs, but once you were up there was more room. It was pretty cool to see it from the inside. Again, no photos allowed in there, I believe. Either way, it was fun. Going back down the stairs was the difficult part. They were so steep and tiny, I clutched the railing until I got to the bottom. Side note for our time here... okay 2 side notes. When we first reached the site, I saw a huge butterfly just land on some lady's shoulder. I tried to get a picture but didn't have a clear shot. Then it flew away. Note number 2. Another US student in our group gave me a little Edward Elric figure b/c I was wearing a FMA shirt that day. Apparently he found it somewhere. I have cleaned it since then, but it's still a little scuffed up. Either way, it's adorable. XD

On our way back to the train station, we had a few minutes to shop. I was unfortunately distracted by the weapons store (knowing I could not buy one even if I wanted one). Weapons laws are very strict here. The only time a knife or something of the like can be on your person is if you just bought it and are taking it home or something like that. Very different from back home. In any case, I ran out of shopping time, and settled for buying a green tea flavored ice cream. Not terrible, but I won't do it again. The sweet potato one tasted good, though. Thanks to friends for letting me taste theirs. ^-^

Our last stop was Enoshima. First we ate, and our options were McDonald's or a slightly more expensive burger place. We took the cheap one, haha. This time I failed in ordering and ended up with a burger with no cheese. So annoying that the cheese one costs 20yen extra. Punks. We hurried to eat, and then we made our way across the bridge to the island. We walked on the pedestrian side and were grateful to not be stuck in the long line of cars on the vehicle bridge. The walk wasn't that long anyway. On the way across, a hawk came down really close before perching on a lamp post. They aren't afraid of anything, I swear.

There was plenty to do on that little island. The main street was full of shops on both sides, but we walked past them; the shopping would be done after the sightseeing. Here we took escalators to reach each platform, which all had many interesting structures, etc of which to take pictures. After the last escalator, we walked through a botanic garden, filled mostly with greenery as opposed to colorful flowers. Some beautiful flowers were there though. We then went to the lighthouse observational tower, my favorite part of the entire trip. We took an elevator up to the indoor platform, then climbed a flight of stairs to the outside part. It was fantastic. The view, the breeze, everything! And to top it all off, we were able to see Mt. Fuji, which can usually only be seen from there on the clearest of days. My pictures of it are nowhere near the best out there, but they are mine, and so I'm glad I took them. ^^ Also, there were a ton of hawks just riding the wind. I wish I could have gotten good pictures of them too. We stayed awhile, but eventually we had to leave, sigh. I followed Ryuuhei-san and Tanaka-san down the stairs instead of taking the elevator again. XD Jess came too, despite her fear of heights. Poor girl should have taken the elevator. Her legs were shaking long after we reached the ground.

Our time at the tower finished, we took the only way back down. A long and winding downhill path surrounded by greenery and, much to Jess' dismay, spiders. They weren't near us, but up in the trees with huge webs. It was rather fascinating. I've never seen spiders so large before, so I was enjoying myself during the walk. The bottom of said path was very steep and slippery, and I of course slid down it in a very ungraceful fashion. But at least I didn't fall. Some bystanders seemed concerned though, haha. We still had a bit of walking to do before we reached the street of shops, but the rest of the walk was fairly spider free, as it was down paved streets lined with shops. We reached the main street and darted in and out of most of the stores, browsing mostly. I bought a couple souvenirs, but nothing more. Spent less than I thought I would on that trip.

A walk back to the station, and a one hour train ride would take us home. I fell in and out of sleep during that time. But toward the end of the trip, a woman and her two sons were next to me. She was sitting with the younger boy in her lap, while the slightly older one stood. They were both under 10yrs old, and kept poking each other. It was rather cute. They were also fiddling with Pokemon stickers throughout the ride. At some point, Jess scooted over as far as she could, so I could too in order to allow the other boy to sit. At first the offer was refused, but when another passenger on their side left, all three sat in their own seat. The boys continued to pester each other, but they were quiet, so it wasn't at all annoying. Once it came time for their stop, they gave me a sticker of Pikachu before they left the train. It was so sweet. It is now stuck to the inside of my wallet where it will be safe. ^^

The Shinjuku stop finally came, and Ryuuhei-san walked those of us in the Ikebukuro dorm through the station until we reached the Shinjuku-sanchome station (which is on our commute route, so it didn't cost us anything to get home from there). We hopped on the first train to arrive, and rode to our usual stop on the way home. At this point, I believe only Jil, Jess, Ashley, and I remained together, but Gabrielle may have been there too. We were walking through the station to our exit when we came across Duke. So of course we stopped to chat and tell him how the trip went, even in our exhausted state.

I don't really remember quite what I did when I finally returned to my room, except that I fell asleep studying for the kanji quiz and speaking exercise that I had the next day. ^_^;;;