Kamine Park

Yesterday I had a couple of hours to kill, so I went up to Kamine Park, which is on a ridge protruding into the city. There is a zoo (which I didn't visit), a small amusement park (which I didn't visit), a place with some kiddie rides (which I wandered into after closing time), and a general garden (which I did visit). It was a steep ride up (I didn't make it all the way) but the top had great views, and the gardens were really nice. Good light too.















This first little garden (marigolds, begonias, silvia? and the pink and purple ones...) reminded me of the family garden centre, way back when (17 years or so...?) I remember the rows and rows of annuals laid out in trays for the gardeners to buy. Racing carts up and down the aisles, loading cars for customers and, most of all, bringing pop around to everyone on a hot summer days. There was nothing like getting the keys to the pop machine. My favourite back then was fanta grape - and while I have occasionally found it in Canada (and Belize) it's really nice to see it everywhere in Japan.















I walked up to the observation tower at the top, with it's views of the city. I don't know whether this type of graffiti is Japan wide or just around here, but instead of carving names into the structure, apparently couples write their names/dates etc. on a lock and attach it to the railing. Some of them are pretty old...















I wandered down through the gardens, and stopped to take lots of pictures - the light was really nice. (Lots of pics on flickr). I found a really cool giant lily in the forest, and got bitten by about a dozen mosquitoes while I stood still to take the pictures.















I eventually wandered down to the kiddie amusement park, and got some nice (if mildly scary) shots of the horses trapped on the carousel with rods sticking into their heads and backs....
















Last stop was the shrine, with it's sake barrels, kama-inu, and lanterns.