We are just back from a wonderful weekend in Matsue, a three hour drive north of Hiroshima and as you can see from the following pictures the hotel we stayed at was rather small. As soon as we stepped out of the elevator it looked like everything had shrank to three quarter size, I felt just like Alice in Wonderland.
Note how small the doors are and the width of the hallway.
What you see is really what we got. When Martin stood in the shower his head hit the ceiling. The entire bathroom was 3.5ft by 5ft.
The bedroom was so small that there was only room for a small double bed squashed up against the wall and no wardrobe. It certainly was compact.
Surprisingly, I actually slept really well and we had a lovely weekend that involved lots of teas, coffee, museums, castles and gardens.
On Saturday we visited the Louis C. Tiffany village near Matsue. The museum has an outstanding collection of Tiffany lamps, stained glass, jewellery and art nouveau furniture. The attention to detail is amazing and they have even recreated a church to showcase the Tiffany inspired windows.
The museum and church are surrounded by English style country gardens, they are really beautiful and I really didn't feel like I was in Japan as I admired all the wonderful flowers and plants.
Afternoon tea in the attached tea room was every bit as good as it looked and they even had Tiptree jam!
On Sunday we drove out to the Adachi gardens, frequently voted the best in Japan, they really are a sight to behold - even if they do look a bit like Telly Tubby Land.
Everything is raked and pruned to perfection and the gardens can only be viewed from inside a glass building. I know that sounds a little odd but I guess that gravel wouldn't look so perfect if there were thousands of tourists tramping on it everyday.
After the gardens we headed off for coffee made by the 2nd best barista in the world (according to the World Barista Championship, 2005). As expected the coffee tasted pretty good but the presentation was even better.
Isn't that so cute?!
Despite the fact that it rained constantly for two days (even our hotel room leaked) we plodded on and took in plenty of sights. Next up was Matsue Castle one of the biggest in Japan and the view from the top was pretty cool - we had to climb five sets of really old rickety stairs which were more like ladders but the risk was worth it.
We rounded off our little sojourn with a coffee made by the brother of the 2nd best barista in the World at a little cafe in Matsue. It was pretty similar and the presentation was just as cute.
One of the things I love about Japan is that there's always a cool cafe lurking somewhere just around the corner!
1 comment:
I love the fact you have to view the garden from inside a glass building - so Japanese! Hope its stopped raining over there - its meant to be 37degrees C here today. For once I am glad to be in an air-conditioned office... Anyway, hope the earthquake wasn't too scary and the ground under you stays firm in future!
Stuart
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