I'm still in my nightie, haven't finished packing, don't know for sure what time I am heading out, or whether I am riding with my buddy or taking my own car, but I just couldn't resist taking the time to share with you some pictures I snapped yesterday.
We never know how bad the morning traffic will be, or how long it's going to take, when we head over to San Antonio for a meeting with our financial advisor, so we always allow extra time. Yesterday we ended up with thirty minutes to kill, so we went driving around and stumbled across this Japanese tea garden. Yes, I realize that sign above says "Chinese" but I think someone made a boo boo. All the other signs say "Japanese." Now, I've been to several Japanese tea gardens before, and they are always serenely beautiful, but none has ever blown me away quite like this. As soon as I spotted the bridge and tower above, I felt my Spidey-senses tingling!
I'm dying to go back again, to get more information, but I gather this was patterned after a traditional Japanese estate. I think I overheard a guide calling the tower a "kiln", and he said that the larger building would have been the main house, and these smaller ones the outbuildings.
What I really want to know though, is who did this amazing stonework? Who created these sculptural masterpieces?
OK, now I'm really signing off for a couple of days. Turns out I'm leaving in an hour! Catcha later.
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2 comments:
Thank you for the wonderful pics, Becky. I'm going to visit for sure on my next trip to S.A. Here's a heartbreaking story about the Japanese family evicted from the gardens they helped create and how the 'China Gate' came about:
http://www.japanesegardening.org/sunkengardens/
ME - thank you so much! I was planning to research that myself, but hadn't had a chance yet. What a heartbreaking story!
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