We started our journey early in the morning... we left from Fukuyama and this time we travelled north towards Okayama... The music playing this time was another female artist which I don’t remember... :P
Our first stop was Kurashiki...
That’s the first thing I saw as we made our way in the centre of Kurashiki... I was speechless and of course my first reaction was to take a photo... The scenery was so beautiful that we walked up and down along the river twice... :P
Strolling and chatting peacefully we reached the Ohara Museum of Art... If the scenery before left me speechless the building standing proudly in front of me left me shocked... ｶﾞ━━Σ(ﾟДﾟ|||)━━ﾝ!!
The Museum was a huge Ionic Greek style temple like building... yes... that’s exactly what I was looking at... it had two enormous Ionic columns and the white colour of the building made it seem like an ancient temple...
Again... I couldn’t believe the love these people had for Greece...
If I remember correctly, the Ohara Museum of Art was the first to exhibit a permanent collection of Western art in Japan.
We entered the Museum and were greeted with a handful of paintings from Japanese artists... Actually the whole ground flour was dedicated to various Japanese painters... The first floor was dedicated to European painters like Pissarro, Gaguin, Segantini, Toulouse - Lautrec, Modigliani, Picasso, Pollock, Italian Greek-born De Chirico, and my favorites Degas, Monet, Renoir.
I am sorry to say that I can’t remember the Japanese artists (._.)
I always wanted to see the "water lilies", one of Monet's most famous painting, but I never thought I would see it in Japan... that was a pleasant surprise... but what came next I could have never predicted!!!!
Both floors where packed with paintings... even in the European paintings section, all paintings were very close to each other giving a feeling of fullness...
Except for the last room...
This room had low ceiling, dim lighting and a black sofa in the middle of the room... I think the colour of the carpet was blue but I am really not sure about this because I was busy looking around the spacious room to see why there where no paintings... Until, my eyes landed on the big oil painting of El Greco - Annunciation...
Hiro-san was surprised when I told him that the painting was an El Greco... of course I would know since I am an art lover and have studied excessively on the subject (that’s why I felt embarrassed when I didn’t know any of the Japanese artists I saw earlier)... I was surprised to see that El Greco had a whole room all to himself... to hang proudly in that wide space for the people to admire him...
Again... and I am repeating myself... I was amazed by the love Japanese had for anything Greek related...
Well, Japanese are culture lovers so it shouldn’t had to be such a surprise but still... all that love for one country??? I was moved to tears...
After that heartfelt event we left the Museum and I took a photo standing in front of the left column holding my book!!! Yes... I bought a book of the Museum... I wanted to learn about the Japanese artists, but guess what???? I never got to continue my Japanese lessons so I can’t read the book.... T.T
One of my goals this year is to learn Japanese though... so let’s see!!! ^^
So.... to continue with my recital... but before that, look at the photo below...
That, was my first traditional Japanese wedding... *(^o^)* I saw another two throughout the days I was in Japan... at first I thought it’s was a nice coincidence... but after my trip to Slovakia I started think differently... but that's another story!!! :P
Of course I took photos of the bride and groom... they looked so cute dressed up in traditional clothing!!!! (^O^)
They were nice enough to pose for me too.... (*O*)
Hiro-san felt hungry by the time I finished with my photos and he told me that we should leave for our next destination... we would stop at a diner though to eat... So, we hurried back to the car and drove towards Soja... on the way stopped to have some ramen... it was delicious... I loved it but couldn’t finish the regular bowl, imagine what would have happened if I took the big bowl like Hiro-san... Japanese people sure eat a lot... way more then we do in Europe... but they don’t get fat (ToT).... NOT FAIR (>_<)
Anyway... that’s it today... my hands hurt!!!! >.>
Tomorrow will be Soja and my "unfortunate" surprise....