Kanazawa

Our breakfast for today was the snacks (bought in Konbini) we were not able to consume yesterday. We left the hotel by 8am which is by the way too early for our bus schedule and just waited at the bus stop. This is where we waited for our bus to arrive. 

We arrived Kanazawa station on time and left our bags again at the station so we can enjoy exploring the area without heavy stuff. We took our lunch again at Yoshinoya, the one where we ate yesterday going to Shirakawa and headed off to the Kanazawa Castle.

We got dropped off by the bus here:

To get to Kenroku-en, you need to walk to the stoplight and get to the other side. The Cherry Blossom Trees in Kanazawa are so full and I call it fluffy as well. They are so white and just full of life. The entrance fee was free at that time as it was I think the start of the peak.

We just took a photo of the Kanazawa Castle from the outside. My friend is not so fond of castles as she thinks it is just a fortress and since we are running of time as well, I did not contest.

• Kanazawa Castle

this is at the bridge connecting the Kenrokuen Garden and the Kanazawa Castle

• Kenrokuen Garden

Kenrokuen Garden is ranked as one of Japan's "three most beautiful gardens" alongside Mito's Kairakuen and Okayama's Korakuen.  We will have a visit too in Okayama's Korakuen. I'd say we prefer the one in Himeji (Kokoen) as one of the most beautiful garden over Kenrokuen. Not sure maybe we just wasn't able to explore much the garden in Kanazawa or was it about to gloomy garden but it just didn't give us much joy.

Centuries old Tree, there are bamboo pillars protecting it's branches to defy gravity and weight.

Statue of Yamato Takeru

in reference to the picture below

View of Kanazawa Castle from the Shops outside the Kenrokuen Garden

We stopped by one of the shops to chill for awhile and got this most expensive Matcha Latte we had, and it's not that even promising. Starbucks' is waaaaaaaaay better than this.

Because we started late, we were not able to explore the Chaya areas in Kanazawa. I think it's giving us another reason to visit this underrated place. We love it here, and hopefully when we get back to this area, it can be a good location as base.

We headed back to Kanazawa station at around 2:40pm and waited for our 4pm train to Kyoto. We just got our luggage from the lockers and headed back again to the platform and boarded a train to Shin-Osaka. This is our 3rd hotel in this leg.