Trip to Taiwan-Japan Day 7 (1) (倉敷 (Kurashiki) 日帰り旅行)

せっかく JR 乗り放題のパスがあるので、今回の里帰りでは、日帰りで色々なところへ行ってみようという事でまずは倉敷へ！倉敷へは小学校の修学旅行で行って以来です。 Since we have the JR pass that allowed us to take trains as many times as we wanted, we visited many places during this trip.  Today, we made a day trip to Kurashiki.  I haven't been to Kurashiki since I was in the elementary school.

新幹線に乗る前に、京都駅の辻利でグリーンティーを購入。 Before taking the train (Shinkansen; bullet train), we got a cup of iced green tea at the famous tea shop, Tsujiri, at the Kyoto Station.

倉敷には新幹線ですぐに着きました。 It took us only for about 1 hour from Kyoto to Kurashiki.

マンホールには藤の花が。 Wisteria on the manhole cover.

駅からは徒歩15分か20分ほどで美観地区に到着！ It took 15~20 min on foot from the Kurashiki Station to the  historical quarter.

食いしん坊な私たちのこと、まずはお昼ご飯！夫はお昼の定食を注文。 And of course, we had to eat our lunch first.  My husband ordered the lunch set.

私は鯛茶漬けです。瀬戸内の天然鯛なのかどうかは知りませんが、歯ごたえがすごくよくておいしかったです。 I ordered a dish called "Tai Chazuke" in Japanese, meaning (raw) red snapper on rice with hot green tea.  I loved this dish.  The fish was very fresh and very good!

いいですね～、この感じ。白壁がとても美しい。 Beautiful white walls.

倉敷川では船に乗ることもできます。 On the Kurashiki river, you can take a boat as.

五平餅も売ってます。 And many shops along the river.  These are the sticky rice cakes.  Yum.

ここが船乗り場。一人たった150円で乗れます。私たちも早速乗ってみました。 We took this small boat.  The ticket was only less than $2/person.

船からの景色はまた違って見えますね。 On the boat, we could see the area from different angles.

もちろん先頭に陣取ります。 Of course we sat in the front.

この橋の下を抜けていきます。 The boat went under this bridge.

橋をくぐり終ったところ。20～30分ほど船の上で楽しめます。 We enjoyed a ride for 20~30 min.

お豆屋さん。 A shop where they sells various beans (snacks).

色とりどりのお豆が並んでいます。柚子味、桜味などいくつか購入。 These are the beans.  They are very colorful and each has the different flavor.

鯛のすり身でできた竹輪。焼き立て熱々を食べられます。 This is the freshly grilled fish cake.

地酒屋さん。岡山名産の桃やマスカットのお酒も売っています。 A sake shop.  These are made from the local ingredients.

この地酒屋さんでラムネを購入。お店の前にラムネの栓開け専用の台が置いてあります。案の定、爆発してしまいました。 I got a bottle of soda (called "ramune") at this shop.  Ramune is known for the distinctive design of its bottle, which is made of glass and sealed with a marble; the codd head is held in place by the pressure of the carbonation in the drink.  To open the bottle, a device to push the marble inward is provided with the bottle.  The marble is pushed inside the neck of the bottle where it rattles around while drinking.  And of course, I had a splash!

なぜか、ゲゲゲの鬼太郎。 This is the character from cartoon.

二階の窓からは目玉親父ものぞいています。 Another one looking down from the 2nd floor window.