Kamakura

The day after Christmas, my roommate Moe and I had decided to visit Kamakura together. As said before in my blog, my roommate is going to Canada (specifically to Vancouver) to study English at University of British Columbia. She'll be leaving at the beginning of January so before she leaves, we wanted to spend a little time together.

The morning of, I left for the station and took the train to Shinyurigaoka. The night before, Kenzo (one of the Iwasa's sons) had explained to me which trains I should take in order to get to Fujisawa. After arriving at Shinyurigaoka I checked the screen for the 9:20 train which I had been told to take. The only train at that time was the Limited Express Romance Car. So I imagined that was the train Kenzo had meant for me to take. So I boarded the Romance Car. The Romance Car is the Odakyu line's fastest express train. And the most comfortable as well. Not long after we left the station, a man in uniform came walking through the alley to verify our tickets. Uh-oh... I didn't have a ticket. So I explained to him that I had made a mistake and that I had boarded the wrong kind of train. He understood right away but then asked me to pay 700 yen (about 8 $) for a ticket.

Then, when we arrived at Sagami-Ono, they announced that the train would be separated. Cars 1 through 6 would be going to Hakone, and cars 7 through 10 to Katase-Enoshima (the direction I wanted to go). At that time, I was sitting in car number 2. So I had to walk all the way to car number 7. Ouf! I'm just glad I paid attention to the announcements. Usually, I just tune it all out because it's information I already know. But if I hadn't listened to it that day, I would have gone in a complete different direction.

So, I met up with Moe in Fujisawa, where we took another train to get to Kamakura, our final destination. And in Kamakura, we spent the whole day walking around, visiting various shrines, taking pictures (see below) and climbing lots and lots of stairs. One day is definitely not enough to see everything there is to see. And in the spring and summer, it's even more beautiful to see because all the flowers are blooming so I'm planning to go back around that time.

Here are some pictures, but of course, I couldn't upload them all.

the train station in Fujisawa

The two upper middle masks (the geisha mask and funny looking man mask) are the exact same masks
that we have hanging on a wall back home so I had to take a picture

o-mamori: people write down their prayers or wishes on these pieces of wood (many of the people hoped for a successful entrance examination, which is very important in Japan to enter university)

The Great Buddha of Kamakura: very impressive. We were able to see the interior as well because there is a hollow part on the side from which people can enter.

I'm not exactly sure whose shoes these are...

That was my last time seeing Moe before she goes to Canada. Good luck in Canada Moe! : D