Spokane, WA - Manito Park

Our next stop was Manito Park. Most of were mainly relaxing. Holly decided to take a lot of pictures of flowers.

Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM @ 50 mm and f/2.8 and ISO 100 with 1/800 second exposure.

Upper Brookville, NY - Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park

During the weekend following my Bubbe's (Yiddish word for grandmother) funeral most of the family that was gathered (and not observing the Sabbath) went to the Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park. Holly walked around with the camera and practiced her photography.

I find it good to have my spouse interested in my more expensive hobbies, such as photography, so that I can more easily justify future purposes.

Phoenix, AZ – Desert Botanical Gardens

We visited an old coworker of mine in Phoenix, AZ. We visited the Desert Botanical Gardens. Lots of flowers and plants to photograph.

I have pictures of signs for some of the flowers and plants.

Tucson Estates, AZ - Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum

We paid a visit to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson Estates, AZ. It is part zoo, part garden, and part museum. The road to it was very winding with a lot of rolling up and down. It was a very pleasant drive.

The first photos I tried to take were of humming birds.

Montréal - Jardin Botanique (Friend's Camera)

We were in Montréal with our friends. I have a Canon T2i. My friend has a Canon 70D, which is a fancier body than mine. They took their images in JPEG and not RAW, so I cannot do as much to touch them up (in terms of light balancing) as I could on mine.

Montréal - Jardin Botanique

We went to the Jardin Botanique to see a light show. First I took a few pictures of the 1976 Montréal Olympic Games stadium tower.

Hiroshima - Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park

We continued walking through the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum (which I did not take pictures in). I would recommend paying the museum a visit and reading through the exhibits as well as using the audio guide. The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and Yad Vashem are two of the most sobering testaments of what humans are capable of doing to one another that I have visited.

Hiroshima - Hiroshima Peace Memorial (Genbaku Dome), World Heritage Site

First we visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial (Genbaku Dome), World Heritage Site. The Genbaku Dome "survived" the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. It is an extremely sobering building. The building has supports built into it to keep it standing and to preserve it as a memorial.

Himeji - Kokoen Gardens

After Himeji Castle we went to the Kokoen Gardens next door. At this point it was raining very heavily. It was also very pretty, but I did not take as many photos as I may have because of not wanting to risk the water with the camera.

Himeji - Himeji Castle

Since our Akashi Kaikyo Bridge got weathered out we decided to pay a visit to Himeji Castle a day early. We rode a shinkansen there. Himeji Castle is fantastic though it was rather wet.

Kyoto - Arashiyama Park and Observation Point

The Arashiyama Bamboo Path led us to Arashiyama Park which had an observation point of the valley and mountains. There was also a nice set of stairs and a path we decided to go down.

Kyoto - Arashiyama Bamboo Path

From the Tenryu-ji Temple Garden we got back on the Arashiyama Bamboo Path so that we could finish walking the path.

Kyoto - Tenryu-ji Temple Garden

On our walk through the Arashiyama Bamboo Path we took a break to go through the Tenryu-ji Temple Garden. Lots of flowers, blossoming trees, and so on.

Kyoto - Arashiyama Bamboo Path

Our first touristy stop in Kyoto was the Arashiyama Bamboo Path in the Arashiyama district of Kyoto. The photos online that show this path empty had to have been taken at a different time of year or very early in the morning. It was rather packed when we were there. Also, this is not just a preserve but an actively harvested bamboo grove.

Omiya - The Omiya Bonsai Art Museum, Saitama

We paid a visit to The Omiya Bonsai Art Museum, Saitama. They had many sections closed to photography but some areas where we could take photos. There were some nice trees, others decent but not great. The Omiya area has a lot of bonsai gardens and there are many beautiful trees to see.

Tokyo - Chidorigafuchi Garden Road

Not being completely cherry blossomed out yet, and attempting to be so on our first day we then walked through the Chidorigafuchi Garden Road. I think more so than anything else we visited so far this day it was the busiest.

Tokyo - Chidorigafuchi Walking Path

After the Imperial Palace - East Garden we walked to the Chidorigafuchi Walking Path. This walking path is along one of the exterior edges of the Imperial Palace grounds and we were in Tokyo for prime cherry blossom viewing.

Tokyo - Imperial Palace - East Garden

From the Outer Grounds we went up and into the East Garden.
Pathways, flowers, barracks, guard houses, tea houses, etc. A lot to see here. Also a random Subaru royal guard car, or something, with a big non-Subaru medallion on the front.

Tokyo - Imperial Palace - Outer Grounds

After visiting the Seimon Stonebridge we proceded through the Imperial Palace's Outer Grounds.
Gates, cherry blossoms, a few old buildings, walls, and trees. Not to mention quite a few people.

Haifa - Baha'i Gardens

As part of our walking tour of Haifa we walked down from the top of the gardens down through and along the lower garden.
Again, this is one of my favorite gardens I have ever been to.