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Kameido Tenjin Shrine; We Came for Wisteria and Stayed for the Festival
First full day in Tokyo! Since the Sakura blossoms came quite early this year, I was determined to see some Wisteria plants since they bloom later and are still a treasured flower in Japan although not as internally known as Sakura. I scoped out Kameido Tenjin as they have a wisteria festival every year to celebrate the amazing purple flowers. Alas, they also came early and were particularly gone when we walked into the shrine. They still have some festivities going on and I know at night the food stalls and lights lighting up flowers would have been a spectacle to see. We enjoyed some traditional singing and then accepted our fate and headed to eat some shiratama ogura anmitsu.
For years I've had the terrace restaurant on my bucket list. The beautiful views and out of this world food and service I couldn't wait to see. The world renowned Mission hill winery right along the Okanagan lake is like stepping into a Italian winery. The terrace restaurant is built on two wings with an outdoor amphitheatre between, all overlooking the lake and the vines. Since Justin booked it, I wasn't really sure of the cost, until we sat down and the preplanned out 5 course meal boasted a price of over 150 per person. Needless to say we didn't do anything else for our anniversary a couple weeks later. Lol Have to say I would Definity go back and do a tour and tasting in the future.