Sunday, we went to Narita. I have only ever thought of this place as "where the airport is." Oh how wrong I was. I was led unknowingly to a temple/shrine and it was important to get there before 11am, but I was not let in on WHY. Once the ceremony started I didn't even care. There were monks, bells, chanting, drums (oh the drums), fire, incense, and praying. I was enraptured. When it was finished I went outside, bought a charm of protection, and lit a candle for my cousin who recently passed away. Overall, I could have happily done nothing else that whole day, but it wasn't over. (Cool thing about the charm: there is wood inside, and it says it will protect you from accidents/troubles because if something happens that the wood will break so that you won't - I love that.) Because we were on a mission to get to the ceremony at the shrine, I didn't have a chance to take pictures on the way up, so all of my pictures on the way down from the shrine instead of the way in like one might normally expect. :)
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| This is one of the buildings around the shrine (of which I actually didn't get a picture - weird). |
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| I LOVE the details on the buildings... even the ends of the wood are carved and gilded. |
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| Beautiful (and right in front of the main building!) |
They have some amazing stone gardens and statues as you walk around the grounds. Stephen loved this one - so I got a picture of him taking pictures of it. :) The actual temple is in the background of this one too. <------
Also, I loved the view of all the traditional buildings that line the road on the way up from the station. I felt like I had been transported back in time at a couple spots. Until of course a car would zoom on the down the street next to you. haha.The stairs were SOO steep it was amazing. There were lots of turtles that I was TOLD it was good luck to knock off the rocks with money, but I'm pretty sure that was a lie. The Buddhas were all dressed to impress and there were old style slippers that I found fascinating. I loved it.
After that adventure, we went to lunch at a little hole in the wall for eel. It was amazing, they had a bucket of live eels that this guy would just reach in, grab, and prep for cooking! Talk about melt-in-your-mouth fire-roasted eel and rice. After eating, I HAD to get a video of the process - and a couple of pictures. (below)
Again - a day with just that would have been fantastic, but it wasn't over!! Next we made our way to the airport for Starbucks and people watching, and PICKING UP MY MOM! I Love my mom - So amazing to see her after 6 months apart, by far the longest we have ever gone. After a start like that, there's no way this week won't be great. :) Looking forward to it!
