Of rainbows, autumn and a bike ride

One morning I woke up and the day tasted of adventure. It was the first day of December but not too cold and the sky was blue just begging me to go outside and explore. With freedom that only comes with traveling on one’s own schedule I set out alone under the radar and went on a road trip. As mentioned before, the warmth in winter goes to Shizuoka so I followed it down around the mountain. I barely had to drive more than an hour before I came upon my first destination, Shiraito Falls. It’s this lovely little park, I went to once with Rhee in the dead of winter, with two waterfalls. Some of the red and gold leaves were still hanging on and despite not being able to go all the way down to the river due to renovations, I got some impressive shots. Best of all: there was a RAINBOW in one of the waterfalls. I really thought seeing one that vibrantly being reflected in water was a thing of fantasy and yet there it was gracing me with its spectacular colours.

Feeling nostalgic, I went to another place I went to with Rhee. The main Fuji shrine. It’s really beautiful and blended in with the foliage with its red paint. Also, November is a time where children 3, 5 and 7 years-old go to the shrine for special blessings and they were all out and about looking simply adorable in their little kimono. Not wanting to intrude on their ceremony I passed by the main shrine and spent most of my time making friends with the fish in this lovely little pond dappled by leaves. Finally I went to this other pond with a little shrine island that can be reached by two red bridges! It was pretty much picture perfect for me: red bridge, shrine, willow tree, pond, koi fish and Fuji in the background. 

With the sun still above me I thought I might try for a final stop. Lake Tanuki is Shizuoka’s version of our five lakes and is famous for reflecting Fuji’s image. I wanted to go for the reflection, to explore someplace new and because I heard you can rent a bike and circle the entire lake! So that’s what I did. It was super awesome fabulously terrific! It was super cheap to rent me a silly little bike, and after much fussing over how to release the beast from his chains, we were off at a brisk pace. Just me, my camera, some Canadian geese, the old bike, a blue sky, the wind in my hair and Fuji. The perfect way to end the day. 

Breathless and flushed, I returned the bike to his stable, snapped a few last shots and headed back to Fujiyoshida, making it home just in time for sunset. Pretty much what a perfect day in Japan looks like!