Kamakura Sightseeing and Fireworks

Tuesday, July 27
This morning we had potatoes, ham, and onions for breakfast. After breakfast we had rehearsal for two hours for our concert tomorrow. During the rehearsal both of our groups played our solos for one another and when the Kanto ringers played their solo they were amazing. Then we had yogurt with fruit in it, soup, tofu, and chicken for lunch. After lunch we took six taxis to Zushi station. Have you ever driven on the left side of the road before? What an experience! Then we all picked up our JR passes for the train into Kamakura. Traveling on a train in Japan they have what they call priority seating. The priority seating is the area for people with canes, pregnant women, people with infants, and people with a handicap. We left the train and arrived at our destination, the 121 ton, 13.4 meter Buddha, Amida Nyori, the principle deity of Kotoku- in temple. At the first sight of it our jaws dropped. The Buddha was massively larger than us tiny humans, even Eric! Many of us took the opportunity to go inside the Buddha which was almost as amazing and large as the outside. After leaving the Buddha we gathered at the station only to walk further into Kamkura and arrive at THE GATE, a large red gate that signifies that you are entering into spiritual sacred ground. We walked along the very long strip of path surrounded by an abundance of trees. At the end was a bridge leading to a huge decorative red and gold temple. Its beauty and majesty was overwhelming. Some of us opted to visit the inside of the temple and some decided to shop, though after a little while it was time for everyone to walk the long narrow alley full of small shops. We all met at the train station and took the train home. We came home and had dinner, fried chicken, cucumber soup, scallops. We had a few minutes of off time to pack our bags for our fireworks beach trip. It was dark and windy which made it very hard to light the fire crackers but we made it happen. Some of us swam in the ocean, some of us danced around in circles with our Kanto group singing to Lady Gaga, and some of us had a blast literally, lighting the variety of fire crackers. IT WAS AWESOME! Then we had a slight incident with Adam where he scraped his hand but he's all better now. We came home, packed and caught some very needed zzz's.
Greg and Ashley