Hakigori?

19.08.16

After long travel day we arrived in the city of Kochi on the 18^th. On the the 19^th mom and dad went to botanic gardens and a temple in the morning. Since Mario and I are not on a jet-lag schedule anymore, we asked for a day to sleep in. At 11, we finally decided that we needed some fresh air and went for a walk. We went outside into the boiling hot sun to take a look around the shops. While walking we discovered a sweet little restaurant along with fancy macha tea shops, where we googled at all the traditional sweets served with tea. Usually our parents are there (if needed) to translate of Japanese to German. This time however, we were on our own:

Walking in the red hot sun, we were both craving something cold; i.e. Hakigori. We knew that in Japan this particular dish was not going to be hard to find. At the first shop where the sign hang outside we tried our best and asked: “Hakigori arimaska?”. The nice old lady knew what we meant and opened the shop door for us. Inside we found a restaurant and tried to make ourselves understood that we wanted a takeaway. Somehow she pushed us out of the shop again and showed us the flavors. Of course none of the flavors were written in the English alphabet and we were forced to say any flavor and hope that it was going to be on the menu. When I then proceeded to say “Lemon” and “ichi” (meaning one), she started preparing two melon hakigoris. Although we did not get exactly what we wanted, I still classify this particular adventure as a success.

Later we met up with our parents to go to the castle of Kochi. We had to take our shoes off before entering and were guided through the castle. We had to walk up several steep staircases, which were there to prevent attackers from reaching the top. Afterwards we ate macha ice cream in the courtyard of the caste. I must say that this particular flavor has got to be one of my favorite ones and is definitely recommendable (found in some Japanese restaurants in Europe).

Getting Ice cream

View of how the castle used to be 

At the end of the day we went back to the hotel and ate in one of the restaurants we saw on the way of our stroll. In the evening we watched sleepy hallow and added it to our small repertoire of films we have all watched together.

temple I visited in Kochi

Made a wish

Song of the day: 

I'm a Believer 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vn5TKRwYfY