Himeji

(You might want a cup of tea for this one. There are A Lot Of Photos...)

While Mum and Dad were here we went to China and saw the terracotta warriors.

No, not really, otherwise the title of this post would have been 'China', right? Actually we went to Himeji, just over 3 hours drive from here, for a few days. The city is most famous for its castle (more on that later) but on the first day we went to Taiyo Park, on the outskirts of Himeji. The park has replicas of famous monuments from around the world, including the Arc de Triomphe, Tiananmen Square, the Pyramids, and of course the Chinese terracotta warriors. They've even built 2 km actual size of the Great Wall of China.

The South Pacific area has giant stone coins that K enjoyed checking out...


I think they went a little over the top with the Manneken Pis though...


We were saved a trip to Easter Island too...




And so, on to Himeji castle:

No, this is still Taiyo Park. This castle, an 80% scale replica of Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany, was recently finished and now they are working on a complete European village at the base of the hill.

Obviously if you're coming to Japan on holiday then Taiyo Park wouldn't really be high on your list of destinations but if you live here and fancy a day out, it's a nice place to explore.

Anyway, the next day we really did make it to Himeji Castle, a World Heritage Site. It's Japan's largest 'real' castle, as opposed to ones that have been rebuilt in concrete since the war. Since it was never attacked or subject to fire (a big problem for Japan's historic wooden buildings), it has managed to survive almost 400 years without major rebuilding.

This is not the most common view of the castle but I like it because you can really see the complex roof shapes...

Around the edge of the complex is a huge wall topped with rooms and a corridor. Great fun for little boys to run around!

This may not be the best photo, but it gives you some idea of scale. As an added bonus, you can play 'Spot Diane and her Mum and Dad'!

From the top you get a great view over the city. The 'fish' shaped gargoyle-y thing (that's its technical name, you know) is supposed to protect the castle from fire...

I thought we were running a bit low on shots of K being cute...

After exploring the castle we went around the adjoining gardens, and then the little zoo...

On the third and final day, H said he wanted to take us to a nearby temple before heading home. I was expecting a single building still in the city, but it was actually a temple complex in the mountains, more a monastery than a simple temple. We rode a cable car up the mountain and then had a very scary ride along a winding mud road on a mini-bus to get to the temple.

It's Engyo-ji, on Mount Shosha, if you're interested...

I love the shape and pattern of the woodwork. Can you tell that I take a lot of photos of roofs?

Apparently The Last Samurai was filmed nearby. All we saw was this Buddhist priest taking photos for a tour group though :-)

Well done if you made it this far!

It was really nice to get away for a few days. We had great weather on the first two days and the light rain at Mount Shosha only added to the atmosphere. K slept well between Mummy and Daddy in the big bed, and a good time was had by all.