天橋立、パート２

Reading: House of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski
Listening: "Summer Time Love," m-flo loves 日之内エミ and Ryohei

[Note: Place name errors should be corrected by Chris.]

Saturday, May 26
Following a quick look-see of 智音寺 on the mainland, Chris and I embarked on our walk across Amanohashidate, a long natural sandbar studded with pine trees.

Let's walking!

A box for poems inspired by the natural beauty of Amanohashidate.

Me on the sandbar. It was a long walk across, but I loved filling my shoes with sand along the beach.

Notice the "fog" over the bay?

Maybe my meteorologist grandfather knows what causes this weather?

At 籠神社, where dragons are much loved.

Confused turtles.

Riding up to 傘松公園 (Kasamatsu Park). 楽しかった！

The view of 天橋立 from 傘松公園. "Foggy."

I'm looking at the bridge between my legs, which allegedly makes the bridge appear as though it is floating. I worried that I would lose my balance and tumble down the cliff. Can you see that I'm holding tightly onto the support bar?

We ate at a restaurant overlooking the bridge. The food was a bit pricey, but my 天ざるそば was refreshingly cool, and the view was not so bad.

ソフトクリームだよ！

Our return transportation.

We had intended to rent bikes to ride back across the sandbar, but were stopped by a salesman who offered his boat instead.

We returned to our starting point ahead of schedule and stopped for drinks at Cafe de Pin, which sells the most delicious banana tartlet I've ever tasted. It also boasts a wine salon--stuffed with clean-lined white loveseats and black leather chairs--that overlooks the water. A fat stack of Vogue Nippon weighs down the bookshelf. Love.

Back on the other side of the bay, we headed up to another viewpoint--天橋立ビューランド (Amanohashidate Viewland).

Again, not the best of weather for photos.

Or the best hair.


Another chair lift! We could've ridden 'round and 'round and 'round . . .

These bubble-blower stones could be found throughout the Amanohashidate area. I didn't bother reading the explanatory signs, but I'm guessing that by landing a coin on the narrow ledge (below my head), the coin tosser gains wisdom/luck. I threw no coins and thus remain un-wisdom-ous, but happy all the same.