An illuminating time

It's a 3-day weekend in the Land of the Rising Sun, but I didn't make any travel plans, what with the recent uncertainties. I did a search of places to go for a day trip and I found the German Village. The place is lit up with light displays after dark in the winter. I thought it would be the perfect place. 

I looked up the train and bus times, since I wasn't planning on driving. The toll roads and parking fee would easily double the cost of public transportation. I ended up driving, since I found a friend to split the cost with. I swear, Google maps sometimes tries to kill us by giving deceptive directions. If the sucker can tell us which lane to be in, it can also tell us the destination to head toward. The Shuto expressway can be confusing at best. 

The site said that there was a Xmas market, so I went early to check it out. Turns out it was a glorified souvenir shop, I was a bit disappointed. The food options weren't that great, either. If ever I decide to go again, I'll definitely be bringing a picnic. The baum kuchen the shops sold was good, tho. 

I caught the sun setting behind the mountain. The lights came on and started with music and dancing lights. It was pretty cute. They even played a Japanese cover of the YMCA. There were people doing the YMCA gestures along with the song. We went along the paths through the lights. There were also interactive displays, where one of them was when a plug was plugged into an outlet, a skeleton flashed getting zapped. One was a cannon that shot out smoke when a button was pressed. There was even a big tunnel of Japanese shrine gates called torii. It stood a little away from the other displays and could've been missed. 

The park got much more crowded after dark. There were long lines at the food stands that were pretty much non-existent during the day. We went up the hill where we could get a full view of the display and turns out the lights were laid to show a picture. It was Gulliver, tied down on the ground. Since it was dark, the people walking through the paths looked like the tiny villagers running round Gulliver. It was pretty cool. 

The drive back home was much less confusing, probably because I got used to the way the directions were given, and I also knew where I should be heading on the way back. 

After I day of walking out in the fresh air, I must say I slept quite soundly after I got home. It was a good day in fun company.