Odawara Castle

Day 1 (Sunday) of our first Japanese vacation started off with a scenic drive to Mt. Fuji via the long way (no tolls aka the cheap way). Along the way, we made a stop to visit the Odawara Castle recommended by one of my neighbors.

The Odawara castle is actually a restoration of the original castle. The original castle was constructed in 1590 by the lord Ujinao Hojo. It was later beseiged and taken over by the Okubo Clan. Fires, wars and earthquake all took their toll on the original building. The new construction was completed in 1960. The viewing area at the top of the castles offers some nice views of Odawara city and nearby Sagami bay. The inside of the castle houses an interesting collection of samurai armour and swords. On the grounds of the castle there is a somewhat out of place small zoo and an elephant.

Here's a picture of Megan as we are getting ready to enter the grounds of the castle. She is posing as usual.

The three of us posing on a bridge leading to one of the many stairways to the castle. It is quite a ways up to the actual castle.

We had a chance to actually dress up in traditional Japanese Geisha and Samurai wear. It was fun but very hot. I don't know how they did it, it was over 90 degrees that day and we were sweating.

After we left Odawara, on our drive to Fuji, we saw this neat little restaurant with a windmill on top. It advertised a garden so we thought we'd pullover. There was no garden, but very yummy ice cream.