Sightseeing

The day Emma was born, my mother arrived from the States. She came primarily to help out with the baby, but when you visit a foreign country for the first time, some sightseeing must be done. After I got out of the hospital, we made our plans. (By the way, hospital policies in Japan require that mother's stay for 5 days for a normal birth; 7 if a C-section was required. Given how long I was in labor, and the way they count days, we ended up staying for 6, but more about that later.)


The first place we went was Ritsurin Gardens in Takamatsu. Its a park that had been established by a feudal lord in the 1600s. There are many winding paths, ponds, a tea house, and a folk museum. The fish and turtles love people and will come up to the edge of the ponds to beg for bread. To our surprise, there were a couple of soft shelled turtles in the mix too. I hope you can see him in this picture, his head is more yellow-green and oval shaped then the other turtles.

One soft shell among a bunch of hardbacks.

Marugame Castle is not very far from our church building, so after church ended, we stopped by. The castle is at the top of a very steep hill. At the bottom of the hill is a moat, two large gates, and a courtyard. On the way up the hill are stone walls. At the top are a couple of open courtyards and the castle. Its not very large, but it has a great view. From the top you can see the harbor, the surrounding city, and the mountains. Its a great outpost for spotting incoming raiders.

Mark, Emma, and I in front of the castle.

The last place we went was Shikoku-Mura, an architectural open air museum. Many historic buildings were transferred to Shikoku-Mura for preservation. There are old houses, bridges, storage facilities, lighthouses, boats and more. They also have gardens and an indoor museum (essential to visit because of the air-conditioning, if nothing else).

Because of things like this, we were unable to take our stroller.

We only traveled on days that Mark had off or had a late shift; but, because the Japanese don't think a new mother should do anything for a month after her baby is born, we believe that Emma is the most widely traveled two-week-old on the island.