in Kamiyama

It was a field trip to Kagawa prefecture on a mission to see the Noguchi Garden Museum in Mure.  We arrived just before lunchtime and so we had some sanuki udon at this place:

It was a traditional and bustling restaurant serving really good udon.  We were guided and seated and just managed to make our order and take slurp of a cup of tea when we were compelled to move to another table by the staff.  The first thing: this table was too low and I had to sit with my legs spread out sideways.  The second thing: when the udon arrived, the English Parent was disappointed that her udon dish was cold so I swapped my nice hot ebi tempura udon.  Third thing: the room was large and spacious and it felt a little exposed.  Fourth thing: my cold udon was uncut and about 6 meters long.  I found eating this extra-long udon unsettling; the beginning of the noodle was in my stomach, one part was in my chopsticks, one part was in the sauce, and the rest of it was still on the plate.  Fifth thing: Eri helped and she swapped her shorter udon with me.  It was a shame that lunch was more alarming than it should have been, but anyway, we were now late for our appointment at Noguchi’s..

It was a perfect day for visiting the garden.  The light was perfect.  Unfortunately you couldn’t take photographs inside the garden, but I was moved by the serenity and the spacial heavyness.  The other visitors seemed light-headed and we all floated around between the monumental sculptures like dust.  The English Parents found someone to chat with: a lady from Holland.  Chinwag quota now fulfilled they explore the stone workshops around the area:

A split rock tied with metal.

Hatched English Parent.

Above, marking the imperfections with paint.

On the way back home we see a hairdresser with a wonderful name and it makes us smile: