Kanazawa

Wednesday, October 20^th

We started our tour of Kanazawa by going to the Kenrokuen Gardens. This is one of the “great 3” gardens in Japan and is truly beautiful. We can’t imagine how it must be when all the azaleas are blooming. It was established in the mid-17^th century and opened to the public in 1871. Kenroku-en means “garden of six qualities” (desirable in Chinese gardens) -spaciousness, seclusion, air of antiquity, ingenuity, flowing water, and views. It is a stolling-style landscape garden.

We continued touring the city by visiting a samurai house, museum of traditional arts and crafts, a sake brewery, and the Kanazawa Gold Leaf factory. We did get a stop for lunch at a place in the “geisha district.”

Later in the afternoon we returned to the hotel and had free time to roam around. A group of us had dinner at an Italian restaurant – enough fish!