Kamakura and the Brass Buddha

Today we took the train to Kamakura to see the huge brass Buddha. I didn't realize how big it really was until we got there. The park area that we were in was gorgeous. Everything was very clean and orderly. After we walked around and took some pictures we went inside of the Buddha. That was pretty cool because it was completely hollow inside. I have some pictures that show the inside and the big hole that you see is where the head is. When we were finished at the park we went back into Kamakura to have lunch. Out of all of the places that we could have eaten in Japan we found ourselves at McDonald's of all places. The funny thing is there McDonald's is not the same as ours. I did get a regular cheese burger and Tony had a quarter pounder, but Vann had a chicken shaker. A chicken shaker is a chicken breast that you get in a bag and then you get a seasoning to put on it and shake it up. It was pretty good. Well I had to try it! There McDonald's also sells hot dogs and shrimp burgers. After lunch we walked up the street to this very long median in the middle of the road that was lined with cherry blossom tress on both sides and lanterns. It was really pretty. I would love to go back and see what it looks like at night with all of the lanterns lite. As we were walking down the walk way we noticed a guy video taping. I thought he was a news caster but then we saw a man and a women walking down the walk way towards us. We then realized that it was a wedding party. It was neat to see what men and women wear to there wedding. As they past we continued walking. When we got to the end of the walk way we entered another park. On the hill in front of us you could see a very large shrine/temple. On the walk towards the shrine there were food vendors on both sides of us. There tents are very different compared to ours back home. We had to stop and buy a candy coated grape. Yeah grape! They were really good, I am going to have to try to make them when I get home. We finally made it up to the temple, to see that there was a wedding taking place right before our eyes. I could not believe that there was a couple getting married right in front of anyone that wanted to watch. It was fun to see everyone all dressed up. We decided that we had done enough walking for the day so we headed for home.

On the way to the Buddha I found a rice cracker stand where they make rice crackers fresh. I couldn't pass it up considering I love rice crackers and have never had a fresh one. It was really good and really big.

Here is Tony touching the wall inside of the Buddha.

Look how big these rope sandals are.People buy incense to put in here for good luck

This tree looked like it had seen better days but it was still alive and even had a blossom on it.Here I am washing my hands with the holy water.

Here is one of the trains that we took to go see the Buddha.Tony and I thought that these dogs were dressed really funny. Not only did they have shirts and jeans on the female dog had a hair wrap in her hair.

Here is one of the wedding parties that we saw walking down the street.

Here are the vendors that we saw.Here is the other wedding party that we saw in the middle of there ceremony.