So, for Mo's 6th birthday, we took Hokuriku Shinkansen, the latest one as he requested during golden week. He was so excited, woke up pretty early in the morning, and made his shinkansen flag with message. Before the departure, we hit Shirubia coffee in Shimbasehi, which conveniently opens from 7am, to have a breakfast. It was very quiet as the most of the people were gone for vacation.
Kanazawa station was mad crowded, off course. We tried one rotating sushi restaurant recommended by a friend near the station, but couldn't get in after 1.5 hour wait... So, we bought lunch at the station and took onto the next train to hot spring where we stayed for 2 nights.
Some videos:
Hokuriku Shinkansen entering
Kagayaki coming in to platform
Mo's impression of Hokuriku Honsen local train
At Kaga Onsen station, while waiting for the ryokan inn's bus departure, we watched some festival dance they performed to welcome tourists for the area.
After checking in at ryokan called Hana Tsubaki, we went to take bath, off course, and relaxed. They have 3 kinds of bath: 1 inside, 1 outside, and 1 outside and mix. Kids loved the one outside & mix as it wasn't too hot to sit in the hot tub. Dinner was a food fight, it kept coming...
On the day 2, we took a local tour bus to downtown to check out lacquer festival. They had food venders, all kinds of lacquer wears, and kids tried make your own bowl:
Mo curving a bowl 1
Mo curving a bowl 2
Mo curving a bowl 3
Mo curving a bowl 4
Mo sanding a bowl
Ton curving a bowl 1
Ton curving a bowl 2
Ton curving a bowl 3
Ton sanding a bowl
These bowls should be finished with lacquer and shipped to us soon... Then we walked around the area, went up to a temple to pray and drink sweet tea for good health after Buddha's birthday, had some snacks here and there, met portable shrine from Hakusan Shrine, checked out the largest Japanese cedar, before going back to the ryokan. It started raining when we were in outside mix bath, and we gave up staying in the hot tub as it started pouring rain.
Photos here.
On day 3, we checked out the ryokan, head back to the Kaga Onsen station, took a train back to Kanazawa. Again, the station was super crowded, long lines of people waiting for the tour buses. Called the hotel we were staying, and took a local bus which wasn't crowded at all, and dropped off our luggage before starting the city tour. It was such a beautiful day, we decided to walk along the Sai river in front of the hotel. And we saw the rotating sushi restaurant (chain) we couldn't get in on the first day, from bus on the way to the hotel, we started walking for that for our lunch. There it was, no lines at all, we waited only a few minutes then got our seat! Kids were very happy as the latest shinkansen delivered the sushi to the table. As you can imagine, the local seafood they had were awesome, despite of the long holiday, which means no market.
Tank filled, we took a bus to check out touristy stuff. First we went to The 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa. It was a Child's Day, and they had several different kids of miniature trains running. And it was free! Then kids checked out 3D planetarium, several arts in public space, had pizza and gelato, and we enjoyed good coffee and the sun. Some videos:
Riding a mini SL
SL backing up
Mo on a ride
Mo on a train ride
Mo on a train ride coming back
Ton & Mama on a train ride
Turrell Room at 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa
"Colour activity house" by Olafur Eliasson
Elevator at the museum like an art
We took another tour bus to check out East side, and was some old buildings. Kids weren't thrilled about those and getting tired, we went to Ohmicho Market for dinner. This one is a video from a temple that had a rotating shelf filled with Buddhist scriptures.
Photos here.
Kanazawa station was mad crowded, off course. We tried one rotating sushi restaurant recommended by a friend near the station, but couldn't get in after 1.5 hour wait... So, we bought lunch at the station and took onto the next train to hot spring where we stayed for 2 nights.
Some videos:
Hokuriku Shinkansen entering
Kagayaki coming in to platform
Mo's impression of Hokuriku Honsen local train
At Kaga Onsen station, while waiting for the ryokan inn's bus departure, we watched some festival dance they performed to welcome tourists for the area.
After checking in at ryokan called Hana Tsubaki, we went to take bath, off course, and relaxed. They have 3 kinds of bath: 1 inside, 1 outside, and 1 outside and mix. Kids loved the one outside & mix as it wasn't too hot to sit in the hot tub. Dinner was a food fight, it kept coming...
On the day 2, we took a local tour bus to downtown to check out lacquer festival. They had food venders, all kinds of lacquer wears, and kids tried make your own bowl:
Mo curving a bowl 1
Mo curving a bowl 2
Mo curving a bowl 3
Mo curving a bowl 4
Mo sanding a bowl
Ton curving a bowl 1
Ton curving a bowl 2
Ton curving a bowl 3
Ton sanding a bowl
These bowls should be finished with lacquer and shipped to us soon... Then we walked around the area, went up to a temple to pray and drink sweet tea for good health after Buddha's birthday, had some snacks here and there, met portable shrine from Hakusan Shrine, checked out the largest Japanese cedar, before going back to the ryokan. It started raining when we were in outside mix bath, and we gave up staying in the hot tub as it started pouring rain.
Photos here.
On day 3, we checked out the ryokan, head back to the Kaga Onsen station, took a train back to Kanazawa. Again, the station was super crowded, long lines of people waiting for the tour buses. Called the hotel we were staying, and took a local bus which wasn't crowded at all, and dropped off our luggage before starting the city tour. It was such a beautiful day, we decided to walk along the Sai river in front of the hotel. And we saw the rotating sushi restaurant (chain) we couldn't get in on the first day, from bus on the way to the hotel, we started walking for that for our lunch. There it was, no lines at all, we waited only a few minutes then got our seat! Kids were very happy as the latest shinkansen delivered the sushi to the table. As you can imagine, the local seafood they had were awesome, despite of the long holiday, which means no market.
Tank filled, we took a bus to check out touristy stuff. First we went to The 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa. It was a Child's Day, and they had several different kids of miniature trains running. And it was free! Then kids checked out 3D planetarium, several arts in public space, had pizza and gelato, and we enjoyed good coffee and the sun. Some videos:
Riding a mini SL
SL backing up
Mo on a ride
Mo on a train ride
Mo on a train ride coming back
Ton & Mama on a train ride
Turrell Room at 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa
"Colour activity house" by Olafur Eliasson
Elevator at the museum like an art
We took another tour bus to check out East side, and was some old buildings. Kids weren't thrilled about those and getting tired, we went to Ohmicho Market for dinner. This one is a video from a temple that had a rotating shelf filled with Buddhist scriptures.
We stayed at a small hotel called Yuya Ruru Saisai. It worked out well as it's located on the other side of the Sai river, away from the tourist areas. After checked out, on the last day, we head to Kenrokuen, a famous garden in Kanazawa, and signed up for a tea sweet lesson. It was a fun lesson we could make 3 different kids of tea sweets. Kids also had fun, and we bought some gifts to take home, including the sweets we made. Then we walked over to Kanazawa castle. They had some event going on, and kids found a bouncy house. They spent almost an hour playing, and papa went to check out the castle. Then we bought bought some lunch to take on the shinkansen back to Tokyo, and ended the trip happily.
Photos here.
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