Adachi Museum of Art

We were up bright and early to visit Matsue Castle before breakfast, one of 12 original castles in Japan. There are over 300 in total, but the majority have been rebuilt over the centuries. Matsue is the second largest and already sits on a hill/rock with a moat around it. Our ticket took us inside the 5 floors which were all large timbers and it was cold. As we reached the 4th floor, the fire alarm went off saying a fire was on the 2nd floor and the alarm sounded out both inside and probably across the city. Most of the visitors headed down the narrow steps, but some Japanese people stayed. An old man rushed up to floor to check, saying it's ok, but still most people went out. As we were almost at the exit, they were letting people back so we followed them back up. When we got to the 5th floor, we got open views around the city and saw a fire engine approaching in the distance, then driving around the moat and parked a fair bit away. The alarm was still blasting away and it seemed the only way they could silence it was to hold the announcement button down, which meant when they did, we could hear them talking. The fire people came in and were looking around on the 2nd floor, as we exited. Rules are rules, and our rules were to take off our shoes and carry them in a bag to protect the timber... when we went out, there were several pairs of fire people's boots at the front door and they too exited and were putting their boots back on. I tell this story because it was possibly the weirdest thing I have ever encountered.... fire alarms blasting, visitors walking into a building with a fire alarm, fire people putting their boots on, oh how I chuckled.

So off for breakfast on our way to the Adachi Museum of Art, voted the best Japanese Garden in Japan for the last 22 years by an American magazine. I'll add my own position on this, it is my favourite too. The gardens were mainly viewed from inside, behind big glass windows (which often framed the views), a few bits were in the open air, but they don't want us to mess up their nicely formed gravel beds do they.... shoes on or shoes off. Choosing my 4 photos (I know, it's supposed to be one) was difficult, just pointing a camera at the gardens results in fab photos, but I added an extra anyway if you want to check it. We ate lunch overlooking one of the gardens as the big fish swam around... speaking of which we saw a Japanese badger near the Matsue Castle moat, like ours but brown and white, cute or what? Adachi is however a Museum of Art, and all I've mentioend is the gardens, but inside, there are halls of Japanese Art... who'd have thunk it? There were some gorgeous exhibits, and pottery of dishes and plates in shapes I have never seen before. I could have stayed here all day...

But instead we had places to be.... Fukuyama 100 miles to the south on the bottom coast... up through mountains and villages that looked deserted, to catch a train to Nagoya, 250 miles east... in 2 hours... like a speedy thing. We are here for 5 days now, I wonder why... my blips will be a total change of scene...