So, as ‘wisteria garden part 1’ suggests, we took a second shot at wisteria heaven. The second shot was a little more successful than part one, this time at least the garden was not a stick garden at least. There was even evidence that at some point earlier in the week there had been a plethora of flowers blooming!
On arrival it was clear that we had, again, missed the gardens peak. This time, it will be another year before we can try again! Still, the garden was beautiful and dramatic and attracting far less people than peak garden time, so all in all, we were pretty happy! We managed to get some nice photos and enjoy what was left of the hanging wisteria.
After the garden, we visited a dog cafe in Kokura. We seem to be growing in our love of animal based cafes! There is no doubt, providing you don’t hate animals, they are pretty wonderful. I am not even a huge animal lover…But there is something somewhat cute about a scraggy rat-like rescue dog wearing dungarees snuggling up on your lap. Plus there was a large golden retriever that has been trained to smile in photos…#Love
After some dog based snuggles we moved on and finally watched Beauty and the Beast in the Riverwalk cinema. I knew I would love it, what came as a surprise is that Dan loved it too! It was pretty wonderful and I couldn’t help but mime along and have little seat jigs to all the songs. Date day one concluded with some sneaky boat-based drinks. One on the boat bar in Moji-ko that we have visited before; each time I forget it makes me sick. There is something so subtle about a moored bobbing boat that my sea-legs (which I don’t even have) abandon me fully. Date day one finished with a failed and slightly alcohol influenced attempt to ride the big wheel in Shimonoseki with a bag full of beer and cider…
The second day was even more indulgent! We cycled for a few hours around Shimonoseki and decided to visit the much anticipated Egg Cafe. I have heard only good things about it from my students, so we were keen to try it. It was pretty great! The first fully vegetarian meal for months and a delicious french pancake dessert. Dan treated himself a little further with a strawberry parfait (he ate 95% of that badboy). It was delicious but expensive…and pretty calorific. But never fear, we had an hour cycle ride home to totally justified that. Although, perhaps this was ruined in the evening after our plans to have a salad for tea fell to the wayside as we munched on a takeaway.
Another successful date-weekend in and around Shimonoseki! Now we just need to work out how to do the same thing on a much smaller budget…
