Exploring Hirosaki during Golden Week

After breakfast, we walked to Former Yoshii Shuzō Brick Warehouse (旧吉井酒造煉瓦倉庫).

One of the red brick warehouses is a contemporary art museum.

Meanwhile, the other one is a restaurant with a small souvenir section.

Not sure why they hung this apple from the top. Maybe it is one of the art exhibit.

The same building was also a brewery for A factory.

After that, we walked to Saishōin Temple (最勝院).

Website: http://www15.plala.or.jp/SAISYOU/

There is a 5 story pagoda at this temple.

This temple is interesting as it was the first time that I am seeing a temple with rabbit guardians.

Apparently, this was built to commemorate those who died in the battle during the reunification of the Tsugaru district.

For lunch, we went to Taishō Roman Tea Room (大正浪漫喫茶室).

Website: https://www.facebook.com/fujitataisyoromankissa/

Look at how picturesque the place looks!

So retro!

The simple menu is on display outside for all to see.

When we were there, there were already many people there and we had to wait in line

There is a huge waiting area in the building with a grand piano. Honestly, I felt that they could've used that space to expand the restaurant area so that they can serve more people at once.

The simple salad that came with the set lunch.

My apple pie dessert that came before the main dish.

The place was really busy so they asked if they could serve the dessert first and I said yes.

Apple pie is not be go to choice for dessert but it is every in Aomori so I have been have so many apple pies there.

The cheese curry main dish which was yummy but I felt that it was a bit small.

We came to this place because my first option for lunch was closed on that day. Overall, it is not too bad as it is near Hirosaki park and there are benches outside for us to sit while we wait for our turn. Also, the view here isn't too bad.

Website: https://www.hirosakipark.jp/

After lunch, we made our way to Hirosaki Park (弘前公園) which had really beautiful shidarezakura blooming.

The castle that we can enter but omg, the passages are so narrow and steep!!!

It is nice to finally be able to visit the famous Hirosaki Park which is famous for it's sakura.

While there are many people, you can still manage to take nice pictures with no one in the background.

There are many shidarezakura around the park.

There are also other gardens with flowers such as tulips

Lol, posing with the tulips.

After this, it was starting to get late and it was time for us to travel back to Aomori for dinner.

Road trip to Oshino Hakkai & Arakurayama Sengen Park for Sakura & Mt. Fuji

Early in the morning, we grouped up at Nissan rental car at Musashi Kosugi for our sakura road trip.

We arrived at Oshino Hakkai (忍野八海), which is this beautiful little village like area with beautiful sakura.

Website: http://www.vill.oshino.yamanashi.jp/8lake.html

Even when we arrived early, the parking area was almost full.

I like that this place has a traditional feel to it.

This area apparently has 8 lakes, but we did not visit all of them as our main purpose was for sakura and Mt. Fuji.

While the sky was blue, there were some clouds in the sky, so we were not able to get a clear view of Mt. Fuji.

This here is the is the 中池 which is the most popular lake there as it is the deepest lake and it is almost transparent. Hence, you can see the fishes in it.

See how clear it is!

After strolling around a bit, we had lunch at 丸天 (Maruten).

They are famous for grilled trout, which was yummy.

The carp sashimi is also one of their popular items but I must say I did not enjoy this at all. I do not like sashimi with soft bones in them. The bones are painful to chew on and the meat is tough.

We were seated by the window and had a view of the garden.

Another famous dish there is the houtou.

A view of the garden from where we were seated.

After lunch, we drove to  Arakurayama Sengen Park( 新倉山浅間公園) .

This place is highly popular and the parking area was full when we were there. Luckily, a car left and we took their spot.

You also need to queue in a long line to get up here. This is so that they can avoid crowd on the top deck. Every group is given several minutes to enjoy the view and snap some picture.

As you can see from our pictures, the sky was cloudy and the top of Mt. Fuji was blocked by clouds when we were there. This is pretty common in the day. To get a nice view of Mt. Fuji, one needs to visit early in the morning or near the evening.

Just when we thought that this was it and was ready to head home, the sky cleared up!

So we went back up for a second round.

This time, we were able to see the top of Mt. Fuji as the cloud slowly disperses.

I guess we were really lucky that day.

We waited the whole day to see the top of Mt. Fuji and it finally appeared!

Look at these beautiful pictures!

For dinner, we stopped by Sushi Hana (寿司華) on our way back. 

Website: https://tabelog.com/yamanashi/A1903/A190301/19007307/?cid=google_yoyaku

This place is fancy.

We had to wait for a few minutes to be seated but we got a nice semi-private room for the 4 of us.

J and I shared this huge platter of sushi! The sushi was fresh and good.

The meal ended with some strawberry sherbet.