It was a hard 7 day week of travel: most of the places I visited were 5 or 6 traffic jams away from each other.
Sure Japan looks small on a map, but when you are here it’s a lot bigger.
Like any good trip in my van, it started with a trip to the hardware store for cheap oil to replace the other cheap oil I burn off while driving at highspeeds of up to 75 mph/120 km per hour … sometimes in only 50 or so minutes.
Two hours in to the voyage the van suffered a flat tire … conveniently in a “Road Side Service Area” with a gas station that had a hydraulic jack I could borrow: my jack wasn’t worth … jack.
midnote: this bike is not my van, but I feel it’s pain.
midnote note: this car isn’t my van either.
After that it was smooth sailing on 3 winter and 1 summer tire for the rest of the trip: the van was unseasonably well equipped I guess.
First Stop: Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture.
I was there at the same time last year. I stayed at the same hotel and they even remembered me … probably because I was wearing the exact same clothes as last year … sadly … or maybe because they could finally collect the money I owed from the mini-bar bill left unpaid.
another midnote: I don’t usually go to mini-bars … they are small and cramped.
another midnote note: I didn’t really have an unpaid mini-bar bill. I just like the idea of hanging out in a mini-bar.
Known for one of the 3 best gardens in Japan (excluding mine), Kenrokuen is pretty cool.
The garden looked exactly the same as last year … maybe because I was there on the same day as last year.
Same staff: I never forget a hat.
NO! You are not doing it right! Once more from the top!
That’s better!
The fashion police eventually arrested this woman.
I revisited the 21st Century Museum too. Last year there was the amazing Ron Mueck‘s work on display.
This isn’t Ron Mueck’s stuff; it’s something else.
I’m not sure what it is, but it looked like the artist was still working on it.
This is a close up of one section. If you look really closely, it kind of looks like the inside of my head or junk or both or none. It must be the work of a foreign artist because Japan has different electrical plugs.
And that was about it for Kanazawa this year. I had schedules and deadlines to not meet, but try for anyway.
last midnote: I’ll tell you what happens next … next.
last midnote note: oh yeah! There is a castle in Kanazawa as well.
note: I saw the same great roots as last year at Kenrokuen Garden … and took another picture of them. I am very predictable when I visit places more than once at the same time … … … … of year.
double note: if you don’t know about my love affair with roots, it’s all revealed here.
I Am The Cheese 
Great photos! You went from natural with the gardens to completely unnatural with the art work. Excellent!
You have a love affair with roots? Mine is with leaves.
Kanazawa seems like a place that would attract many curious folks. Thanks for sharing your photos. I like what you capture! 🙂
Thanks for the comments.
Tammy: leaves blow through my life, but roots tend to stick around. … so do sticks too!
Doraz: thanks. Kanazawa is a pretty nice city. I’ve visited 3 times and it never disappoints.
Fabulous sculpture.
Brilliant photos! I just bought a hat like that! I thought it was a sieve!
I’m with Razz on this one…those sculptures! I love to blog travel. You are a good tour guide!
Thanks for the comments.
razzbuffnik: Are you referring to Ron Mueck’s stuff or the sculpture hanging from the ceiling in this entry? The artist was still working on it when I was walking around inside the museum at night. It was in a strange location and hard to see properly: I guess there weren’t too many places they could actually hang that one.
S. Le: I get confused by sieves and hats too. hee hee!
w1kkp: thanks. I thought I was getting off on a tangent with these long blog travel entries … but then I realized that this blog is all “off on a tangent stuff“.
I was talking about the sculpture hanging from the ceiling. Having said that, as you know, I also like Mueck’s stuff as well but since I’ve seen some before, it’s not such a novelty any more.
razzbuffnik: just checking. This sculpture is more mobile than most. hee hee!