April Adventures Across Japan Phase 3: Profit!

Aomori Day 1: Shichinohe Sights

There's a town right behind me, I promise.

A beautiful day greeted us... Ashley wished that my curtains were a little thicker cuz my apartment gets pretty dang bright as soon as the sun comes up... I suppose I'm just used to it by now. I used to be a 'blackout-curtains' kinda person, but I seem to have adapted (probably because I am too cheap to buy darker curtains...or maybe it's because I'm old now and can't sleep in late anymore *shrugs*).

???

These have sprouted up all over town.
Anyone know what they are?

Today, we set out at a leisurely pace to check out what there was to see in the Town of Shichinohe. We wandered down the street towards the post office, up the stairs to the 天王神社 (Tenno Shrine) then walked to the other shrine that we could see atop the next hill. We stopped briefly at the castle gates (which were closed, but it seemed that you could get onto the grounds from different access points... but it looked pretty sloppy, so we just admired it from afar... there isn't actually a castle anymore, just a bunch of signs with kanji on them... which I can only assume mark where different parts of the castle once stood... please correct me if I'm wrong). Then continued up towards the larger shrine and the park.

 Back down the hill to check out the azalea (つつじ) grove, which was clearly not in bloom yet, sadly. I'll just have to keep checking back and snap some shots when it decides to be spring here.

We wandered down the road to the river which runs through town and followed it from one bridge to another and found, what could be, my new favorite place to sit.

 We then grabbed some groceries and headed back to make up some grub.

Later on, we drove out to where the JET welcome party had taken place, and got a nice view of the town... and hoped we didn't get blown awaaaaaaaaaay.

Last stop was Namiki Gelati for some delicious treats!