Our initial excursion along the Tama River this year was to Sawai and Mitake. We fully expected to see some fall colors there, and take a little hike along the river.
Well, we were not disappointed! Many maple trees were displaying their shades of red, and many of the other trees were various hues of orange and yellow. We had a beautiful weather day too, sunny and relatively warm for November. Sunshine makes the fall colors look even more splendid.
Our primary destination was Seiryu Garden Sawanoi-en. It was a five-minute walk downhill from Sawai Station on the Ome Line. Being Saturday at lunchtime, it was a bit crowded, with all the outside tables filled. People were buying noodle dishes at the machine kiosk, and then waiting for their numbers to be called to pick up their lunch at the counter. I guess we should have gotten here earlier.
Anyway, no worries, we went over to the adjacent tofu restaurant and wrote our names down on the waiting list. It took a half hour or so of waiting to get the four of us seated at Mameraku. There is another tofu restaurant just a few paces away called Mamagotoya, which is the expensive tofu restaurant. To dine there, we were told we had to have reservations.
When we finally got into Mameraku we got seated along the window, so we had a nice view. The tofu dishes were great, and very reasonably priced.
While we were waiting to get in I took a little walk across the bridge to the other side of the river, and climbed up to take a look at the small Kanzanji Temple that sits on the hillside. From there you have a bird's-eye view of the garden and restaurants.
After lunch we proceeded to the path along the river that leads to Mitake. There are many maple trees along this path, as well as little farms that have their fruits or veggies on sale, displayed on tables along the path. There were multiple spots where we stopped to take pictures of us with trees and the river in the background.
We reached Mitake Gorge after about thirty minutes of walking along the river. Frankly, I thought that the bridge at Sawai was much prettier, so I didn't bother to take a picture of it. We were done our walk, and it was getting late in the afternoon so we decided to head back to Tokyo. A short walk up the hill to Mitake station didn't take more than five minutes or so. There we picked up the next train back to Ome, and then switched to the Chuo line to proceed back to home base in Mitaka. All in all a wonderful little day trip.
Location
Vocabulary
Flash Card Drill-
We went on a day excursion to the countryside.私たちは田舎へ日帰りの小旅行に出かけました。
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The school organized an excursion to the museum.学校は博物館への遠足を企画しました。
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The hikers were excited to explore the gorge.ハイカーたちは峡谷を探検することに興奮しました。
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The view from the top of the gorge was breathtaking.峡谷の頂からの景色は息を呑むほど美しかった。
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The sky took on a soft pink hue at sunset.夕暮れ時、空はやわらかなピンク色の色合いになりました。
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The leaves had a golden hue in the autumn sunlight.葉は秋の日差しの中で黄金色の色合いをしていました。
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We bought snacks from a kiosk at the station.私たちは駅の売店でおやつを買いました。
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The ticket kiosk was closed late at night.その券売機の窓口は夜遅くには閉まっていました。
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The park is adjacent to the school.その公園は学校に隣接しています。
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Our house is adjacent to a beautiful garden.私たちの家は美しい庭に隣接しています。
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We made a reservation at the restaurant.私たちはそのレストランを予約しました。
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You need a reservation to enter the popular café.その人気のカフェに入るには予約が必要です。
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The meal was reasonably priced.その食事は手ごろな値段でした。
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She was reasonably confident about the exam.彼女はその試験についてまずまず自信がありました。
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From the tower, we had a bird's-eye view of the city.塔からは街を一望できました。
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The map gives a bird's-eye view of the whole park.その地図は公園全体の鳥瞰図を示しています。
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After lunch, we proceeded to the river path.昼食後、私たちは川沿いの道へ進みました。
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Please proceed to the next station.次の駅へお進みください。