Atsuta Shrine: At Jingumae Station

 As I mentioned in my previous post, the trees here are beautiful! I couldn't stop looking up! After walking around all day in the heat it was a pleasant way to end my walk.

 Would you believe this is all in the middle of a city? You can't even hear any of the traffic noise in here.

 This is me being covert and taking a photo of the man who works at the Shrine. I didn't have enough guts to go up to him and ask if I could take his photo......but maybe you will!

 This man stole my idea!

Just kidding! I know everybody does this, who could resist!

 

 I found the pond that is pretty much a haven for turtles...and Koi apparently, but it's difficult to see them unless they are bright orange.

 Like this guy.

I think he wanted his picture taken....so I obliged.

 A bridge that you can't cross over....only look at.

I don't know why, but I liked the fact that there was only one pigeon sitting on the Torii gate. You'd think there would be more.

Okay, I know I promised roosters, but you will have to wait until my next post to see them. But, I promise I have them!!

Walking Course #1: My Goal! (Atsuta Shrine)

 Welcome to Atsuta Shrine!

Home of the Thousand (at least) year old tree and.....some roosters?

 It was so quiet at this shrine. Maybe it had something to do with it being the middle of the day on a Friday and not a holiday.

 To cleanse your hands before praying.

 The trees here are amazing! They intertwine with each other to make almost a complete blanket over the area.

 I've seen these strings of cranes at a couple places. It takes a lot of time to fold all these cranes (supposedly a thousand) to have your prayers answered.

 All visitors are welcome to buy a plaque and leave it here. There are other charms that you can buy. There are ones to protect your health, wealth, business, etc.

A woman in prayer after tossing a coin to the gods in the money box.

Walking Course #1 : Lunch at Atsuta Horaiken

I got to sit on the second floor and had nice window to look out of. Of course, I was sitting on the floor so I could only see up. lol

The great news is this place has an English menu. Yes, there are some spelling issues, but it's easy to understand and the pictures look good enough to eat!

Nagoya is many famous foods and one of them is the Hitsumabushi! Just a warning I didn't eat it here, because it is a lot of food and I can't eat that much! I didn't want to waste the food so I took pictures of the useful directions for you and of the grilled eel lunch set that I did order!

Even if you decide not to eat the Hitsumabushi and order the regular grilled eel there is the option to get the large size. It's where they give you a little more eel for those of you with a healthy appetite!

I highly recommend eating here! The sauce is wonderful! The grilled eel practically melts in your mouth and the charcoal has flavored the eel perfectly! This set came with soup, rice and some tsukemono. Tsukemono is pickled vegetables that go really well with rice! Oh, how I could go for some of this eel again!

Just to make sure you understand you WILL have to wait to get in, but the staff is very friendly (with one that greeted me in English) and the service is great! This restaurant is very much worth the wait, so much so that afterwards you won't even remember the waiting part. (I only remembered, because I had to for your benefit)

Here is one of the main entrances to Atsuta shrine and where the other eel restaurant is. I guarantee you that on weekends this one is much more crowded just because of its vicinity to the shrine. There is usually a line of cars going around the block just to get into the parking lot.

I'm sure both places are delicious since they are talked about so much, so it's up to you about which restaurant you want to visit. Enjoy!

Walking Course #1: Lunch Time!

 Here is another spot to stop and look around. You can see the river from here and if you are tired and need a break there are places to sit! You can't see her, but behind this wall there is a woman who is sitting on the steps to the entrance of this bell tower. If she could I think she would tell you that this is a decent place to rest.

 Or you could do what I did and find your own personal oasis. I walked under this tree and immediately I felt a change in temperature! I decided to stand under this tree and consult my guidebook (Buratto Osanpo Ko-su) to see where I should eat. I then realized that I had passed it!!!

 When I passed by this entrance there was nobody on the pathway and if I hadn't mentioned it before, I can't read Kanji characters.

 All I really saw was this sign and an empty pathway that looked like an entrance to someone's house! I didn't want to just wander into their house, but then I realized this sign had restaurant hours listed on it (yeah, okay so I read a smidge of Kanji, but it didn't help me when I first walked right past it!)

 It turns out this is one of two famous eel restaurants in the area. (The other one is right in front of Atsuta Shrine). There was about a 20 minute wait and then supposedly another 20 minutes to wait for your food. (1. I arrived here about 12:30pm on a Friday 2. I came alone...that's right I said alone 3. It's about a 5-7 minute walk from Atsuta Shrine) The other restaurant would probably have been busier since it was much closer to the shrine. I think I got in at a good time, because after I sat down in the waiting area the place filled up!

These are some photos of the garden, but in the next post I will show you the amazing grilled eel I got to eat! It was sooooooooooo delicious that I would like to go back just for that......and the garden that I missed.

This restaurant is called Atsuta-Horaiken, but remember it is not right next to the Shrine. You have to go to the main (BIG) intersection and cross diagonal over the bridge from Atsuta Shrine. Then you walk against traffic until you smell food and see a white wall that goes around the corner. Follow the wall until you see the entrance! (Or use the guidebook that I did for better directions....(-_-;))

Walking Course #1 to Atsuta Shrine Continued

On my walking course I came across this garden. I was tempted to stop inside, but as I mentioned in my previous post, my goal was to finish the course and not get sidetracked. Although, I will definitely be coming back to this garden since it seemed like there weren't that many people here. And if it is good enough for wedding photos I think it would be good enough to pay a visit!

You can see the photographer perfecting the brides outfit for her photos.

 

 The course brought me back to the river side and I noticed these pictures in the railing! I thought it was a nice idea to add some scenes that used to be seen on the river. It doesn't seem like any boats go up or down this river anymore, but I can imagine that a long time ago, they did.

 They even had a replica of a boat that you could have seen floating on the river!

 If you need to stop and rest there are benches along the way. Although, there are a lot of birds in the area so I'm not sure if you would want to risk stopping under the trees. The bird songs were beautiful to listen to.

 A fountain with the water washing down.

This lantern was placed in the same fountain as the previous photo.

By this point I was getting very thirsty, but the good news is there were plenty of vending machines along the way! I was able to find about 5 just in the vicinity of this fountain.