It was a short drive from our hotel to the castle's parking area so we got started on our tour a little after 0900. I asked one of the attendants how many visitors they expected. He said about 15,000 today which is some less than the 25,000 they allowed in during the two months after reopening after the renovation in March of this year. Still 15k people meant it took a while to climb the steps to the main keep. Those who held queuing tickets could join the line to ascend the seven sets of STEEP steps to the top floor.
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| Holding this ticket (1 of 15,000 today) meant you could stand in line to gain admission to the main keep. |
Upon entering to castle proper everyone had to remove their shoes and carry them in a plastic bag throughout the castle. When I saw the old wooden floors I could understand the precaution since even the marble floors of the old churches in Europe were worn badly by innumerable shoes. The planks in these floors were custom made and the width varied depending on the size of the original tree from which it was cut.
The main structure of the castle is wood. Some of the pillars and most of the other structural parts are the originals from when the castle was first constructed in the early 1600's.
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| Asked a passerby to take our photo. Later I'll play with it to remove his finger. |
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| because of its color the second name for Himeji Castle is White Egret Castle. |
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| View of the Himeji Castle from where we had lunch. |
It was an interesting restaurant. French cuisine with a Japanese twist. The place settings and service were impeccable and the food was good.
Next stop of the day was the Sagano Romantic Railway. Our grup was a little old for much romance but we had a scenic ride along the river where we'll ride a boat down through the rapids and more placid parts of the river latr this morning.
More on that train and our hotel in the next post.
More on that train and our hotel in the next post.
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