Hiroshima Trip Vol.4 -Fall Foliage

After saying hi to my grandma's grave, we continued on driving deeper in North.
I've never seen such beautiful fall foliage in my whole life. This is Northern Hiroshima, known for ski resort during winter time. This is where my dad grew up and met my mom. We found a log house restaurant called "Buna-no-sato" (meaning beech country). This lunch set was only 1000 yen! It was such a luxurious lunch time, sitting at the patio table surrounded by beautiful beech trees. The air was extremely clean. A bear sign standing by the side of the restaurant caught my attention. I asked the woman who served our lunch if she's actually seen one recently and she said yes. Just a few days ago she saw the bear walking across. There was also an incident last month that a woman tried to run from it and got bitten! How frightening!! People in the countryside are so tough. That's what impressed me in this trip. The other day, back in Fukuoka, there were so many bees flying around the patio area at my parents' house and I was the only one freaking out, running away screaming. Meanwhile the other women were just sitting there drinking tea calmly with huge bees flying above their heads. I almost started to believe that it would be so rare to be bitten by them when one lady was actually stung by one of them. Her reaction was amazing too. She was like "Ouch, I think I got bitten." I was acting like something really horrible happened and worried her so much but she was like "It hurt but I'm fine." Really!? The other women told me that that specific type of bee, which is called long-leg wasp, isn't as bad as the other kinds. I was so so surprised how brave they are!!! And made me feel like I'm such a wimp!! ...........

Back to the trees, although it was partially raining during our visit, we were so lucky to be able to view such magnificent natural beauty. I felt like my spirit was cleansed by it. Before dark, we started our long drive back home and this is how we ended our Hiroshima trip safely.

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祖母のお墓参りをした後、更に北へ。
今までで一番きれいな紅葉が見れました。こちらは冬場はスキー場で知られる広島北部。父の出身地で、母に出会った思い出の地。『ぶなの里』というログハウスレストランを発見。このランチセットはたったの１０００円！ぶなの木に囲まれたバルコニーのテーブルで、なんとも贅沢なひとときを過ごせました。空気のきれいなこと。レストランの脇の熊注意の標識が気になり、ランチを運んできてくれた女性に熊を最近見かけたか聞いてみたところ、つい数日横切って行くのを見たばかりとのこと。先月は熊に出会い、逃げようとした女性が足を噛まれたという事件もあったとのこと！怖すぎ！！田舎の人々はそれにしても強い。今回の旅ではつくづくそのことに感銘を受けました。脱線しますが、先日福岡の実家のバルコニーの周りに蜂がぶんぶん飛んでいて、ビビってきゃーきゃー騒ぎ立てて逃げまくってたのは私だけ。。他の女性達はというと、でっかい蜂達がぶんぶん頭の上を飛び交ってるというのに、座ったまま静かにお茶を啜っているではないですか。もしかして、刺されるなんてことはそうそうないことなのかしら、と信じかけた矢先に、一人の女性が実際に刺されてしまいました。彼女の反応といったらこれまた驚きなのです。「いたた。刺されたかも。」私はというと、とんでもないことが起きた、という思いで彼女が心配だったのですが、当の本人はというと、「痛かったけど平気。」マジっすか！？他の女性達はというと、「アシナガバチ」は他のに比べると危険じゃないから大丈夫だ、と。なんと勇敢なんだ！！！と驚きが隠せませんでした。それに引き換え私の弱っちさときたら、、、！！

滞在中、ぱらぱらと雨に降られましたが、こんな壮大な自然美にお目にかかれてほんとにラッキーでした。心が洗われた気分。暗くなる前に出発し、こうして広島の旅は無事に終わりを告げたのでした。