*beautiful & historical Kamakura*

Ok, so I know I shouldn't have gone travelling AGAIN, but my friend Danielle's contract is coming to an end, so I reasoned that I "had" to go because this would probably be the last time I ever see her. Danielle had never been to Kamakura, and neither have I so that's where we decided to go. To save money I took the local trains, it took 6 hours each way!

Kamakura is in Kanagawa prefecture, neighbor to Yokohama and Zushi (where I stayed for training). Other than the big buddha, and the fact that it was the capital of Japan prior to Tokyo, I had no idea what to expect. First on the "must-do" list was to visit the Daibutsu (big buddha).






Now that cherry blossom season has begun, they have sakura-flavored EVERYTHING! At first I thought it was rather disgusting...they have sakura cakes, sakura tea, sakura manapua, sakura ice cream, and MORE! I decided to try the ice-cream, because you can't knock it, till you try it...it was refreshing! It did taste exactly how the flowers smell, but it was very light..mmmmm!


From the Daibutsu we walked to Hase-Kannon Temple. Hase-Kannon is where they have an area dedicated to the children of Japan, and to pray for all of the babies that had been aborted. It's a very beautiful, peaceful, and yet depressing place to be!









Kamakura is usually done as day-trip because it's a small town and there's nothing to do at night. We stayed at a very cute guest house called New Kamakura Hotel. I recommend staying here if you're ever in Kamakura...The rooms were very spacious and the staff was very friendly.




The next day we had breakfast at Coffee Iwata. It's near the station and is VERY popular for it's breakfast. At Kamakura Hotel we met a girl named Aya who worked there and she suggested that we eat the pancakes here. We were sure glad we did...it was a little expensive but our table overlooked a little garden and the food was yum!



After breakfast we were ready to begin another full day of temple hunting!! There are dozens of temples around Kamakura, a lot like Kyoto and Nara. We started with the most popular, Hachiman shrine.







Next stop: Sugimotodera temple. This is the oldest temple in Kamakura, dating back to 734!!!!



We also stopped at the beach because Kamakura is popular for it's beaches, and is a popular surf spot in the summer. For that reason this area has an obsession with Hawaii. There were quite a few "Hawaiian shops" and a couple of hula schools!! Outside of one shop I found this...



Ahhhhh!!!! Hawaiian Sun! Natsukashii ne! I miss home a lot right now...I'm sick of the cold, and I don't like going to the beach in a coat and not being able to jump in the water. The cherry blossoms need to hurry up...I'm getting kinda futless. haha :)

Ok, well that was my weekend...Today was a national holiday here in Japan so I spent the entire day cleaning! I'm so proud of myself haha...Today is the first official day of spring, and it should be any day now that the cherry blossoms come out in full-bloom! On the news it predicts that in Tokyo it should all come out starting this Friday, so we'll see! *fingers crossed*

I hope everyone at home is enjoying the warm weather! grrrrrr i'm jealous! hahaha love you :)

jaaa ne, bye bye!