Did all the driving today - a total of over 6 hours. S and I left at 8:30 am to pick up my other OU friend, M, from her apartment. We were driving to Ise to visit the most famous shrines in Japan. There are 125 shrines that cover the same acreage as Paris. The Ise Grand Shrine, both Geku and Naiku, outer and inner, is where they pray for world prosperity and for the Imperial family. Every twenty years the bridge, and the two head shrines are torn down and rebuilt. The grounds have been around since the 5th century! They rebuilt for the 62nd time in 2013 so many years of rebuilding up till now! As it was a holiday weekend, the traffic was insane and took us over an hour longer than usual to drive there. We drove by a huge amusement park and the ocean at the beginning and even saw M’s workplace! She gets to use English on occasion but all about lumber, ha.

After long lines, we finally made it into a parking lot (not as bad lines as the ones in Gotemba or as the ones here for the free parking lot). Parking was super expensive (300 yen per 30 min), but we just didn’t want to wait forever. We walked through Oharaimachi, the old approach to the inner shrine, filled with many traditional buildings. We got some food from the stands for lunch. I tried cold french fries covered with a harden layer of honey and lemon juice, and a Japanese corn dog which was a hot dog covered in sticky rice. Almost everyone was Japanese tourists,and the floods of people never ended. The grounds of the inner shrine were huge! We did a lot of walking amongst the huge, old trees. You could even go down to the river to cleanse yourself. You couldn’t take pictures directly by the shrines as it’s a place of worship, but I got to see the Shinto priests with the really tall hats. The shrines were built very traditionally with thatched roofs. The back buildings even had gold tips. Maybe the buildings weren’t very impressive, but the peacefulness and historical significance impacted me. I did have to wait in a long line to get my stamp for my seal book done. Over 30 minutes, I’d say, the longest I’ve waited for my stamp yet!

On the way out, we stopped by the rest house and got some free tea! We passed back through the bustling shopping street and stopped at a tiny seafood restaurant at the end of the street. The guy called out to us in Japanese telling us to try his delicious oysters. I decided to stop inside and try one! We were in a famous oyster fishing town. I thought I had never had oysters before and it was only 380 yen ($3) for a pair. The guy cooking even spoke English to ask whether I wanted cooked or fresh. I choose fresh. He put some lemon soy sauce on them. They were huge! And I recognized them! I had oysters cooked in nabe twice before and had no idea what it was. I didn’t really like them cooked as they were too chewy, but fresh was yummy!

We drove about 15 minutes to the outer shrine, Geku, and parking in a free lot this time. Much less busy here. There were more of the same buildings but on a smaller scale. We drove further, about 20 minutes, to get to Meoto Iwa, the married couple rocks. They are joined by a heavy rope that weighs over a ton. It gets replaced several times a year in a special ceremony. It was my first frog shrine. The wind was fierce and as I was standing by the entrance torii gate, a wave came up and splashed me! Caused some laughter as it was a dry spot on the ground, but the sea blessed me anyway. We were there at high tide so the rocks were separated by water.

We tried to find something to eat, but all the places were closed and it was so windy. We got back in the car and drove a little further to a teppanyaki place that was hopping. We all had some delish okonomiyaki. The ride back was a little better but still long. My legs and body were sick of driving! I had to stop to get gas at a rest stop on the expressway, but the line was crazy! It was all backed up onto the interstate, because there weren’t enough parking spots for all the traffic. I just wanted to pass through to the far side to get gas. We went returned to Nagoya, we were lucky and could get the cheaper and closer parking lot to our airbnb, whoop.