Himeji Castle and the Safari

Right before we came to the US we had a very fun Saturday visiting some of the sights in Japan. We went to visit the Himeji Castle which was built beginning in 1333. It was not fully finished until 1618. There were several royal families which used this castle however I think none were as beautiful as my hubby and kids! Of course I may be a little biased. We began our tour and saw where they stored food, threw people down wells (Isaac's favorite) and learned a little about the history of the castle. Did I mention that it was hot enough to fry eggs on the sidewalk? Well, it was. So when it came time to tour into the castle and I found out that we had to climb up hundreds of stairs and wear slippers or go barefoot, I decided that perhaps I would take any not interested in sweating buckets with me and go and sit in the shade. Brynnie decided to go with Daddy up into the castle and the boys and I headed back down to the shade. Bryce and Brynn saw some neat things and enjoyed learning even more about the castle. I have to admit that Isaac and I were a little sad that we didn't go but taking a two year old up that many stairs in the heat would have been enough for me to throw MYSELF down one of the wells :0) It was quite an amazing structure and made me

appreciate a little more the beauty that can be found in Japan.

After finishing at the castle and browsing through a few of the

shops, we had lunch and decided that the day was still young so

we set off to find a drive through safari that we had heard of from some friends in our neighborhood. It was about a 1/2 hour drive from where we were in Himeji but we heard well worth the trip. We pull up and pay for entrance into the park. The standard 1000 yen. We were thinking, OK...so far not too bad on the wallet. Next we had to head to the safari part of the park. We get to that gate and end up paying $100 for the five of us to get in. We were not too pleased but they handed us a speaker to place in the car and switched it to English and we were on our way. We pull up to this huge automatic gate....picture Jurassic Park! Then we drive through the first gate and we stop. The gate now behind us had to close before the new gate in front of us would open. We pull through this gate and look over to our right. There is a cheetah on a cement slab in a cage. I am thinking, "We paid $100 to see animal cruelty?" We pull forward about 10 more feet or so and look out, and there are cheetahs next to the road close enough to rip your arm out of the car. WOW!! Needless to say, the speaker they provided is very clearly saying, "Do NOT get out of your car or open your windows for any reason. These animals are wild and ferocious."

No kidding! Can you see the lawsuits that would abound in the

US if there were a place like this? Next we saw the lions, tigers,

rhinos, hippos, deer and all sorts of deer-like animals, buffalo,

camel, elephants and giraffes. Way cool!

Then , we get out of the car at a parking lot and go through a walk through safari. We fed bears, elephants and giraffes. That was awesome, as well. Brynnie was a little freaked out about the elephants trunks but really enjoyed feeding her favorite animal...giraffes. The bears were adorable and would beg for the treat. Then, we headed to the petting zoo and were quite curious about what we would get to pet. There were sheep, ducks, chickens and other fowl and the most rare thing there....dogs! Not just any dogs...large farm dogs :0) While we have never seen dogs at a petting zoo, I think it may have been one of our favorites to see while there! Japanese people have dogs however, they are usually the little froo-froo dogs that do well in smaller living environments, not the big honking dogs like you find in the US. We had a wonderful day and were grateful to have seen so many fun things!