As mentioned in yesterday's post, I had plans for visiting the zoo down south of the city, about 45 minutes by bus (the fare is normally 440 yen one way, but I think the driver messed up and charged me only 330 yen for the trip to the zoo). I got there a little before 1 PM, and wandered around a bit at the bat enclosure before doubling back and visiting the iris garden. The signs advertised 15,000 plants, 80 varieties.
At the end of the garden, the staff had set up a couple of tents for a tea ceremony. We were given two small pressed powdered sugar candies, and a bowl of bitter powdered green tea (matcha). The tea itself, unsweetened, wasn't quite as bitter as I was expecting, and the matcha flavor kind of hid in the background, just strong enough to be intriguing.
The little purple and white tent was used to host the mistress of the tea ceremony school and a few dignitaries who inspected the teas made by the students before allowing them to be presented to the guests.
The servers consisted of a few school girls, and several women wearing pink t-shirts with the logo for the tea school on the backs. I always enjoy participating in tea ceremonies, but I don't get many opportunities to do so.
Some iris photos.
A meerkat.
A prairie dog.
The red panda cage only had 2 pandas this time, and I couldn't get any really good shots of them. Still, red pandas. And then when I got back to Kagoshima and Central Park at the end of the day, beer. A better weekend than some, recently.
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