Garden Museum Hiei

I set out in the late afternoon, for the "Night time special light up garden at the Garden Museum Hiei."   First I took my own train four stops to the end of its He line. Then I got on the Eizan Railway, which is more of a one-car streetcar, though it does not run along a street. At the end of the streetcar line, I walked across a stream, and up a hill, to get on a cable car, going up a steep mountain. At the end of the cable car ride, I walked a short distance to the "cable ropeway" (gondola).   I really didn't expect all these different modes of transportation, but as each one took me higher, and further from the center of Kyoto, it got cooler and cooler.

The museum was billed as having a theme of French Impressionism. What this meant was that there were sturdy easels with reproduction paintings scattered throughout the garden. As my guidebook suggested, the paintings were by "Monet, Renoir, and Gogh."   Aside from this oddity, it was a lovely garden, indeed sometimes reminiscent of Monet's own. As it became early evening, the frogs were particularly noisy.  What was spectacular were the views out over Kyoto, and in the other direction, Lake Biwa, the largest lake in Japan.  From the elevation, the city lights twinkled.

Reversing the process to get down the mountain, I had the advantage of knowing where I was going. In the front of the cable car, over the head of the driver was a long pole and a net that I noted as I boarded. Part way down this section of the mountain, there were some fairly loud noises, but no one was alarmed. I moved down onto the floor for a better view of what turned out to be fireworks below us in Kyoto. After the fireworks, I felt something brush my hair lightly, and looked to see a bat!  Now, my mother taught me that bats will tangle themselves in your hair.  Even though I know that is not true, I was still not happy to see the black bat flying inside the the train car. I guess that's what the net had been for.