富山桜旅 ２ (Spring Trip to Toyama 2)

4月8日

On April 8.

左：無料朝食だけど、味が良くて、がっちり食べた。

中央と右：ホテルのチェックアウトが11時だったので、荷物はホテルに残した身軽な格好で富山城のお堀を巡る松川遊覧船に乗ろうと出かけた。途中、ホテルのすぐ後ろの県庁広場の桜と噴水。

left: It was a free breakfast but tasty enough to fill our stomach.

middle and right: As the hotel checkout time was 11:00 a.m., we could have a morning sightseeing without our bag. Our main purpose in the morning was to take a boat ride along the Toyama castle moat. It was behind the prefectural office which was very close to our hotel and we crossed the prefectural office's park to go there, enjoying the cherry blossoms and the fountain.

遊覧船の乗り場。朝が早くてまだ販売所が開いていなかったので、富山城を一巡りした。

The pleasure boat dock. It was too early to buy a ticket so that we first walked around in Toyama castle.

桜の中に白鷺がいた。

富山城を一巡りしているあいだに、券が購入できるようになったけれど、最初の便は9:30発だということで、お堀沿いを歩いて見ることにした。

I loved white herons in cherry blossoms. After the sightseeing of Toyama castle we could purchased the boat ticket but we still had time before the first boat ride and walked along the moat for ourselves.

お堀の周りは遊歩道になっていて、船に乗らなくても歩いて回れる。

There were such nice walks along the moat that one can enjoy cherry blossoms without taking a boat ride.

中央：富山はガラス細工でも有名なのだそうで、あちこちの’橋にステンドグラスが填まっていた。

middle: Toyama is famous for its glss arts and we found this kind of stained glasses in a bridge railing here and there.

遊覧船は30分ほどなのに3000円と高め。だけど、満開の桜と青空が揃うことは滅多にないことだからと奮発。

9:30出発と言われていたけれど、早いもの順に乗せるということで、どうしても最初の便に乗りたかったから、僕らは9:00から並んだ。すると9:15くらいには出発してくれたので、あまり待たされることはなかった。

The boat ride takes only 30 minutes and costs 3,000 yen for this cherry blossom season. We thought it was rather expensive but as we had a rare good chance to see cherry blossoms in full bloom and the blue sky together, we decided to take it.

The first boat was expected to leave at 9:30 but we had to make a queue to take a ride. We went there at 9:00 and took the second place to take in and to be seated in the front seat of the boat. The first boat actually left at 9:15 and we did not have to wait a long time.

すでにお堀の回りを歩いて見ていたものの、水辺からの景色はまたひと味違うから、船に乗れて良かった。

We had seen most of these cherry trees but the their view from a boat was a little different enough to satisfy us.

下船したあと、ホテルのチェックアウトをすませて富山駅に出ると、ちょうど岩瀬浜行きの電車が待っていた。慌てて乗ろうと思ったら、ドアが開かない。中の人が手を振るから、もう発車するので乗れないということかと思って後ろに下がったら、運転手さんが降りてきて、乗るのは車両の反対側のドアからだと教えてくれた。中の人はそれを教えようとしていたようだった。

After the boat ride, we checked out our hotel and walked to the station, where we found a streetcar for Iwasehama, which we we wanted to ride. Unfortunatelly the door was closed and we wondered how to open the door. A passenger inside shook her hand and we wondered if we were too late to ride it. We disappointedly stepped back from the streetcar when the driver came out to tell us that we were expected to use the door on the other side! The passenger inside tried to show us the open door by her gestures.

路面電車の利用には、半額になる往復二枚の割引き券をホテルでもらっていたので、片道120円しかかからなかった。

Our hotel gave us two 50% discount tickets to use a streetcar for a round trip and we could use it only for 120 yen for one way.

岩瀬浜。中央の岩瀬カナル会館でマップと町歩きの情報をもらった。

この時間になるとまた雲が増えてきた。天気がなかなか定まらない。

Iwase Beach. In the Canal Hall in the middle picture, we got a town map and important tour informations.

Around this time, clouds started gathering again to our concerns.

富山港展望台　雲は多かったけれど港はよく見えたし、立山連峰も薄らと眺めることができた。

Observation Deck of Toyama Port. With clouds, we could observe the port very well as well as a little view of Tateyama Mountains far away.

能登地震の影響で国の重要文化財、北前船廻船問屋森家は見学できなかったけれど、お隣の馬場家を見学できた。立派な造りの家だった。これらの家の前には北前船の彫刻もあった。大きな酒蔵もあった。

This area thrived with cargo ships that sailed the Japan Sea during the Edo Period and there were big shipping wholesalers along the seashore. One of them, Mori residence, was damaged by the Noto Earthquake but we could sightsee another one, Baba residence. Outside of the house, we could see a model statue of a cargo ship. There was a big Sake factory, too.

帰りも富山駅行きの電車がすぐにやってきたから、予定していたよりも早く駅に戻って来ることができた。帰りの新幹線まで十分な時間があったので、松川遊覧船に乗っているときに教えてもらった市役所展望台に上がってみることにした。

On the way back, we could again take a streetcar without waiting. We came back to the station, therefore, much earlier than we had expected. As we had more than enough time before taking a Shinkansen back, we decided to try the observation tower of the city office, which we had been informed during taking a pleasure boat in the morning.

雲が増えてきていて、立山の姿ははっきりしなかったけれど、朝歩いた桜並木や、駅、ホテル、県庁や県庁前広場などが確認できた。展望台から降りてきたところでまだ少し時間があったので、市役所併設のレストランに入ったら、職員食堂だった。日替わり定食のカツフライは安かったけれど美味しかったし、目の前に桜並木を見ながら優雅なひと時を楽しめた。

The sky was so cloudy that we could not observe Tateyama mountains clearly but we could recognize the places we had sightseen. We could see the locations of Toyama station, our hotel, the prefectural office and its park, too. As we has still some time and as we saw the restaurant sign at the gate of the city hall, we decided to take a late lunch there. This restaurant was a one for the office people. Their dishes were not fashionable at all but their today's dish, a deep-fried pork lunch set, was quite tasty and its price was very reasonable. What is more, we could enjoy lunch with a luxurious view of cherry blossoms in full bloom.

富山の気になる和菓子二点、おめでたい蒲鉾セット、それにおぼろ昆布をお土産に買ってきました。

和菓子、「おわら玉天」は、ふんわりとした卵食感で、中に寒天で緩く固めたカスタードのようなものが入っていました。「江出の月」は、おぼろ月をイメージした麩菓子のあいだに独特の味わいの豆（かな？）餡が挟まれていました。どちらも今まで食べたことがないもので、美味しい選択でした。

For my older brothers, we purchased, as our souvenirs, two kinds of Japanese sweets, a festive set of fish cake and kelp shavings. Two kinds of Japanese sweets, Owaratamaten and the Moon of Ede, were both new tastes and delicious. They turned out to be good choices.