The day started once again with sunshine and a stroll over to the French bakery, this time with my best friend in hand. We ate several fabulous treats and I had fresh mango juice which was divine, Sherman had a banana sesame smoothie which wasn't quite so divine.
We took off on the train where we met up with Jim and Kristin, another PSNS couple, who wanted to go sightseeing. We headed to Kamakura which is an amazingly beautiful town littered with gorgeous shrines and gardens. I loved just strolling through the streets and looking up the hills and seeing some statue that had been there literally thousands of years.
The most famous attraction in Kamakura is the giant brass Buddha. Its beauty and size is not done justice by these pictures.
We had to cleanse before entering any of the shrines.
Monks outside the Buddha praying and accepting offerings. I gave an offering and said a prayer of my own with hope and faith in my heart.
We then continued exploring Kamakura and went to a beautiful hillside garden overlooking the coastal town. There were ponds, shrines, and several Buddha statues throughout, many we could not take pictures of.
The flowers and plants were just beautiful. We ended our tour of the garden by going through a cave where statues were carved into the walls.
We hopped back on the train which curved around the coast revealing beaches dotted with paddle surfers until we reached the town of Enoshima. We tromped over a bridge to Enoshima island and we discovered an amazing place. Narrow streets lined with food vendors selling the freshest seafood you can imagine.
We were starving and had little cash left that we needed to save for our train ride home so after searching without luck, we stopped in this majestic Spa Resort and we thrilled to find out that they not only took VISA, but also had a stunning 4th story restaurant that we could eat at. We had to take off our shoes before we could enter and no pictures were allowed. But we watched the sunset and sipped on Kirin beer and just soaked in the experience. Heavenly.
At dusk we ventured through the middle of town, up the vendor lined hill, to the shrines and gardens at the top of the island. The area was filled with cats who came out to play as the light faded. We nearly made it all the way to the famous and ironically modern lighthouse before the wind began to really kick in.
>We ended the day with a night time stroll on the beach. It was a long, but amazing day that I will never forget. One of those days where things just keep getting better, and you feel blessed to have the time.
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