Minamichita,Aichi (南知多、愛知県)

Strawberry picking (いちご狩り)
           
                     It was my Japanese teacher who invited us for Strawberry picking with them. As strawberry is one of my favorites, I was really thrilled about the day. As it was the starting season of Strawberries, the first taste of Strawberry of the season can be made a feast, I thought. We decided to eat a lot of berries, and reached Minamichita's Ichigogari. It was really cold and the wind was too strong. We waited inside the car for the time to start.

                        At 10am, it started. For half an hour of strawberry picking, it costs 1600 yen per head. Before getting inside the greenhouse, they gave us a plastic plate and a small cup of sweet milk cream. Entering inside and seeing a lot of Strawberries hanging down from the plants grown at a height of our hands, we were confused about which one to be picked and from where. Every berries were staring at me with its cute colour and freshness. My teacher started eating and her plate seems to have lot of sepals. We also started eating. It was really sweet and it tastes more when ate with the cream.

                      During the first few minutes, I ate a lot and thought that it's really simple to eat some 50 fruits. But as I reached some 18, I was full and couldn't eat more. Then we started clicking some snaps. Along with that ate some berries too, very slowly. By around 20 minutes. We decided to quit. Tired!! After taking a group photo with the help of a person in charge there, we returned.

Flower garden ( 花ひろば)

                   After the Strawberry picking, we went to the flower garden nearby where we can pluck 10 flower stems of Nano hana( 菜の花 ) and as many as the slender stems of the same which is a very tasty green leafy vegetable. It costs 430 yen per head and they gave us scissors and cover for collecting the stems. The field was covered with yellow flowers on one side and the other side with the younger ones without flowers(those used for cooking).

                   On the way back we entered a restaurant. The restaurants of Minamichita are mostly serving seafood, as the place lies near to the sea.  And for the first time, I ate Sashimi, the famous raw fish recipe of Japan. I was a little scary, but was able to eat 2 pieces and it doesn't tastes bad. I could eat it, I realized. And there were some other food items too, served in-front of us, fishes,crabs,prawns,oysters etc.  There were some tanks with live fishes and oysters near the reception, which they are used for cooking. It was really a good experience.

                        After that, we just stopped near the shore. There were barbecue arrangements on the seashore, where we can buy fresh seafood and enjoy there. Since it was really strong cold wind blowing outside, we returned very soon. This place must be surely enjoyable during summer.

Sakana hiroba(魚ひろば) 

                    The next places we visited are the sakana hiroba(魚ひろば) of Toyohama and the Ebisenbei no Sato(海老煎餅之里). Sakana Hiroba is a fish market with lot of varieties of fresh fishes at also cost.  they are selling some fish products also. 

Ebisenbei no Sato(海老煎餅之里)

            Ebisenbei(海 老煎餅之) is a common Japanese rice crackers with shrimp. There were a lot of varieties of senbei found there. They are providing free samples of each type of senbei and people are rushing to taste each to decide which all to buy. There was some program conducted inside for the children here they are taught how to make senbei and decorate it.

                   We bought some senbei packets and say "sayonara" to the Minamichita reion for now. With the hope that we could enjoy a summer over there very soon.

Nabana no Sato (なばなの里)

Dec 28,2014

                      We decided to go for the winter illuminations of  Nabana no Sato. As we checked for the bus timings from Nagoya, it seemed convenient but on searching for the train timings and the fare, we could find that the cheapest one is the JR. There is another line bound to Nabana no sato called the Kintetsu line. But JR seems cheapest and we decided to take JR. Arriving at the Nagashima Station, which is a small one without any ticket checking system too, we walked to the bus station near Kintetsu Station which is only some 5 minutes of  walk. Fortunately, we were able to get inside the first bus that started from there upon our arrival. The bus was bound for Nabana no Sato.

                      The lighting starts at 5 pm only, but it was already crowded when we reached there at 4:15 pm. Taking the entry tickets worth 2000yen, we get inside. The  entry actually costs only 500 yen, but the rest amount was given as the coupons that can be used for shopping inside the Nabano no Sato.  

 As we had more than half an hour, we decided to use our first coupons for a Yakisoba. It was really interesting to watch the three Yakisoba cooks. They were saying "Oishiku nare, Oishiku nare" while making the Yakisoba. It exactly cost our single coupon of 500 yen, we both have another two coupons each for further shopping inside. After enjoying our Yakisoba, we walked around nearby the entrance itself. 

 

      There was a round observation deck, like a mushroom, which is rotating all around the illumination area. Eventhough we decided to enter it once the illumination starts, we couldn't do it because of the heavy crowd that arrived after 5pm.

       At 5pm, the bell rung and the lights were turned on. There are no words worth to describe the feeling when we were surrounded by lights all around. Different colors,different shapes, camera flashes all around, and can't make an  approximate  count of the people present there. The crowd moved like a flowing river, without any end. We also joined them. The rest , I could only describe with the snaps that follows.

 

                    And at last we were guided through a tunnel full of lighting and that 10-15  minutes of walk made us to think that we were becoming part of a fairy tale. There is no opportunity for us to make a click peacefully, due to the crowd.

                     At last, it was a show of some 15 minutes, the Nayagra falls, with lakhs of LED. It was amazing, as we couldn't believe it was all the tricks done with light. The flowing Nayagra, in different illuminations, birds flying across the falls. And the falls during winter when it seems to sleep solidified. We watched four times, through four different directions, each of which provided different experience for us. There is an observation deck to view this show from where we can enjoy the beauty of illuminated falls at its peak.  

               While returning after the Nayagra waterfalls show, there was another small tunnel of lighting, which was greenish(leaves) with some flowers in between them.

               It started raining by that time and we get inside some shop, used our coupons for some souvenirs  and hired the next bus to Nagashima for the JR train.