#this got wayyyy off track. oops. good night

[seagullcharmer]

ack! took off my glasses but still scrumbling. i cannot see

[asterinjapan]

The pilgrimage that (mostly) wasn’t

Good afternoon!

Well, sorta, I’m typing this before 6 PM so I guess it still counts as afternoon, haha.

A slightly earlier report today because, uhm, I tried to do the Onomichi temple walk. Emphasis on tried. I must confess I gave up and returned to the station, but not before seeing quite some temples anyway, so a report you shall have!

First, I had to get to Onomichi, which is in the Hiroshima prefecture. I took the shinkansen for Fukuyama (one whole stop) and then a local train for Onomichi station. I mean, sure, there’s a direct line from Okayama too, but why take that if it’s literally 3 times slower? Long live my JR pass letting me use the shinkansen, haha.

Onomichi is a coastal town along the Seta Inland sea and is connected to Shikoku island by a 60 kilometer long toll road. It’s not the only connection to Shikoku, but it is the only bridge that can be crossed by bike (a very popular cycling route) or on foot. I, uh, wasn’t going to do either of those two, but it does explain the huge amount of bikes and bike related stores here, haha.

Onomichi is also known for having a ton of slopes and even more temples. Like, if you think Kyoto is bad, try Onomichi. It’s a relatively small town, so the temples are fairly concentrated. 25 of them are connected via a 2.5 kilometer long temple walk, so I was determined to do that one today.

At the tourism information office, I got a map indicating the route, and off I took to the first temple. My eyes were drawn up first, however, because there was a small castle uphill! And no, Onomichi isn’t a historical castle town. The castle has no history, it was literally just built in the 1960s as an attraction, presumably because some guy in Onomichi went ‘guys, I want a castle’ (I mean, I can relate, so). It was closed for public in the 1990s and they’re still not sure what to do with it, but that was a fun first look, haha.

Less fun was my ability to get lost immediately. In my defense: there is a lot of signage, but I’ve read more people complaining about having trouble finding the first temple, so at the very least it’s not just me. I accidentally started an ascent I hadn’t planned to make yet, so I turned around, was greeted by a kitty giving me a confused look like ‘didn’t you just go past here’, and google mapped my way out. There are, by the way, a lot of cats here in Onomichi. I think I’ve seen more cats than temples, honestly, and there’s even a cat alley here, haha.

After a bit of a detour, I did end up at temple number one, Jikoji temple which, to be fair, was quite pretty. I took some photos here to commemorate temple 1 and then followed the signage to Komyoji temple, and I trailed off for a bit to find Kaifukuji temple as well. Three down, only 20 more to go or so! Yikes.

As I said, slopes. There was a lot of uphill walking involved, often stairs, and often steep and uneven, so uh, I’ve had nicer walks. Next up was Hodoji temple, which was close to a shrine, and also featured quite a nice statue of what I can only assume is Kannon, the Buddhist goddess of mercy (one of the very few Buddhist figures I recognize, so if that wasn’t Kannon, I’ll cry now, haha).  This temple was a bit bigger and also featured a lot of beckoning cat statues in the window of one of the buildings.

There, the route didn’t seem to line up with my map anymore. I was expecting Shingyoji temple, but I first ran into the three story pagoda of Tenneiji temple and had to backtrack to find the actual temple. It was a long way up next, orrrr I could pay for the ropeway to go up on Mount Senkoji.

Yeah, I paid for the ropeway, haha. In my defense, it gives you lovely views as you go right over the temples and pagoda.

The mountain has an observation platform, which I naturally went up in immediately. I was getting hungry and the interior of the platform teased with some tasty sounding dishes, only to find the restaurant in here closed… Great, now I really was hungry, haha. Luckily I had some bread with me, so I nibbled on that as I took up my map again. Next to the observatory I had already spotted the ‘lovers sanctuary’, which featured a bunch of those heart locks and uh, a statue of two cats in love in the middle, haha. They sure love their cats here.

Well, I was here for temples, so I went downhill for a bit to eventually find Senkoji temple. On the way, I passed a tree with a branch apparently so Instagram worthy that they had put up 2 plaques, one on each side, telling people in four different languages not to climb on it because it was dangerous. That… that must have happened multiple times. To be fair, it was a nice looking branch, but yeah…

Anyway, I found the temple! This one also gave some nice views, even if it was a bit lower than the observatory, and you had a view on the ropeway gondolas this way. I took a break here as it was possible to order green tea with a Japanese snack, so I did just that. Unfortunately, a large group of Japanese tourists had just arrived too and was uncharacteristically loud, but thankfully, they were taking a very quick-paced tour and left minutes later.

I explored the area a little more, only to find a number of very big rocks piled together that you could climb. Like, rock climb. Uhm, no thank you, haha.

I went back to the ropeway station, because I had paid for a round trip so I was getting my round trip! And it was a much longer way back down than it was back up, anyway. The way was pretty steep, but I thankfully found a French restaurant that sold waffles. Well, sold them so well they sold out… I was still hungry, so I got a plate of spaghetti with huge shrimps, which was yummy, but wayyyy too much for little old me, oops. I was not expecting the plate to be that full… But, what I did finish was good, and the view was amazing, I have to say.

I was almost back at the top, so I climbed the last couple of meters and went back to the ropeway station. Once down again, I tried to look for that temple I had missed, but it had started to drizzle, and I noticed my mood hadn’t really improved so far either. Back to the station it was!

Thankfully, there’s a flat road next to the tracks, so finding my way back was much easier and way less steep. I had to wait a little, so I scored some Hiroshima kitkat (still Hiroshima prefecture after all) and then took the train back to Fukuyama and from there, Okayama.

 So uh, that wasn’t much of a pilgrimage, but I did honestly try! I think it might have been better if the weather had been less gloomy and if I hadn’t just already climbed several hills this week, haha. A pilgrimage sure is tricky. I can only applaud everyone who did finish the entire path, because by the looks of my map, I only finished about a quarter of it, maybe a third if you count Mount Senkoji as a whole. And that’s not even mentioning people who complete the 88 temple pilgrimage of Shikoku, like, whoa!

Would I go back to retry? Maybe, but not very soon and not at the tail end of a busy week. I think I’d rather try the cycling route actually, since they also rent out electric bikes, but that also won’t be any time soon. Onomichi is very pretty though, with some lovely views to offer and plenty of museums that I completely skipped over, oops.

I’m really full from that plate of spaghetti, haha, so I’ll find something light for dinner and reserve train tickets for Saturday and probably for tomorrow, too. Saturday will be very busy, and tomorrow will be rainy, sure, but… I’m also so close to Marugame now, which houses another original castle keep, and I’m at 6 out of 12 of original castles right now… I wanna get past the halfway point… So that’s probably going to happen tomorrow, haha, although I’ve already been warned about another steep climb. Oh dear. At least it’s just for the one building instead of 25! And if that all works out, then I’m pleased to announce that so far, I’ve managed to do every single side trip that I had listed, minus the extra ones I only had as back up. I honestly wasn’t expecting that, but my only complaint is that I still wake up too early, so I’m pretty tired. Still, my legs are only slightly sore after some hectic 17 days, with not a sight of blisters or any kind of external injury. I’m impressed, well done body!

So we’ll see about tomorrow, haha, but that’s it for today.

Good night and see you tomorrow!

[ladyjonquilinthenorth]

Stormb*tch

Before I begin my unsolicited recap of the episode, I beg you to please excuse the disorderliness of the piece and lack of direct quotes. I’m at work at the moment and I can’t fact check the quotes right now, so this post is pretty much based off of my impressions of last night and general scrolling through Tumblr. Please excuse the following incoherent jumble of thoughts.

Dragonstone

Ok. First impression, Fire Beast Castle is straight up sinister. It gives me the creeps. It’s all dark and brooding and I don’t know how those poor Targs of Valyria the Old were holed up in there for 100+ years. I would have gone crazy.

D is headed down the path of insanity and I HAVE NO REGRETS. Her little speech to Varys was vaguely threatening AF. Be my dude and bow at the altar of my greatness, and you may live. Poison me like you advised Good King Bob and I will feed you to my dragons. Tell me, o readers, is this what one calls a kind, benevolent, and just queen?  It’s becoming clearer and clearer just how opposite Jon and D are. One is, like I said, just and benevolent, and the other is ruthless, power hungry, and much much much too self-confident.

I gotta say, though, I have a soft spot for wise old ladies, and I loved the little conversation with Olenna, and how she inspired the great and mighty Mother of Dragons to listen to her sage advice. Ignore the men and you’ll survive. Advice that I wholeheartedly agree with, though at this point, I’m kinda rooting for D to disregard said advice because *whispers*I don’t want her to survive. There. I said it. Make it quick, GoT Fandom. I don’t want to suffer.

And don’t even get me started on the Lady Mel’s sudden appearance! Did you see how D’s eyes light up when she hears that the prophecy may not necessarily be referring to a prince?? That lady is headed down the rabbit hole and I am here for it. And D, from one gal to another, you are NOT Jon Snow’s QUEEN until he kneels to you (which I hope and pray that Jon will not be stupid enough to do). He has his own kingdom and until he decides to proclaim you as such, you really need to get a hold of that self-titling obsession you’ve got. It’s not pretty.

Ok, but GWxM killed me. KILLED ME. “I have one weakness” ahjdhflhlsfhlgsjlgsjlgjslg. But to be honest, you know how it is when you play the Game of Thrones. They’re both basically walking corpses now :(

King’s Landing

“In Essos, her brutality is already legendary. She crucified hundreds of noblemen in Slaver’s Bay. And when she grew bored of that, she fed them to her dragons.”

Cersei, pal, I never thought I’d say this, but I agree with you, lady. I agree with you! This woman knows of that which she speaks.

@heathergee25 has a Tarly theory that looks to be on the right track. Go check it out!

Otherwise, idk, bored.

Oldtown

Ew, Samwell, ew. That scene was basically me browsing through another window on my screen while crackling flesh and unholy grunts made their way through my headphones. Poor Jorah and his love letter to his Khaleesi.

But I love the fact that, as JBW pointed out, bookish, shy Sam was never good at anything, yet here, in the library, here he finds his battleground, and I firmly stand behind all those underappreciated BTS players who ultimately save the day!. Sam “I killed an actual White Walker with a blade of glass” Tarly is not here for your “no can do” attitude. Looking at you, Maester Slughorn.

Arya

My baby Arya is going home!!! Hot Pie called her pretty!!! I think that’s the first time in her life she’s been called pretty and she liked it!! And her face when she finds out that her beloved Jon Snow is now King in the North!! Damn you, D&D, making my baby Starklings just miss each other. Can’t say I’m surprised, though.

I don’t cry often when watching things, but I literally had tears of joy welling in my eyes when Arya spotted Nymeria and she let herself be petted. Man, that wolf if huge! And then, of course, when Nymeria backed away, my heart cracked just that wee bit. *sniffs* WHY?????

Somewhere in the Narrow Sea

I’m not one for battle scenes, so I didn’t really follow along. Sorry if that’s your thing. BUT, Yara and Ellaria get it on, obviously, mere moments before their ship is ransacked by Pirate Uncle Euron. Obviously. Never really cared for the Sand Snakes, so I’m glad they’re gone. And Theon. I don’t know what set him off, but that guy has some serious PTSD and that breaks my heart. Are you dead, Theon? Please don’t be dead, Theon. I have so many questions.

Winterfell

Saved the best for last. *rubs hands gleefully together* Let’s get down to it!

I’mma be honest  here for a sec, we got wayyyy too few North scenes and they were much too rushed.  I would be happy to watch an entire 8 seasons of just my Starklings home in their ice castle. But that’s just me.

Boy, they are really laying it on thick with the Ned/Cat parallels. They’re not even trying to be subtle at this point. The first scene begins just the way the Ned/Cat scene begins in S1. An arrow hitting a target with the lord and lady figures looking down from on high. I swear though, that’s a scene straight out of a Jonsa future-fic. Mother and Father gazing down proudly as their Stargaryen babies become the best archers and swordsmen in the land.

Jon looking to Sansa for her take on Tyrion great and if you still think StarkBowl is an actually feasible possibility as cast and crew love to claim, just watch the episode. You’ll have no doubts whatsoever.

Ok. Meeting scene. I know that we all may not agree with Jon’s decisions all the time, but he is just, benevolent, and decisive. All good things in a king. Now, if he would only listen to his platonic-hot-sister-wife-hand-queen, that would be even better.

He makes his decision with listening to the dissenting voices and you know what, I understand him. “The North is my home. It’s part of me and I will never stop fighting for it, no matter the odds”. Jon has no desire to meet D. He has no desire to bend the knee. He needs the dragonglass and that is the one and only reason why he is going south. Sansa knows that he needs the weaponry and the army that D can provide. She knows that the WW are the biggest threat right now. But she protests because she’s SCARED. The last two times that the Starks rode south, they never returned. Also, kinda awkward that one grandfather roasted the other one. Oops.

But that look when Jon turns to Sansa, looks her straight in the eye, and says “I will accept”, did me in. It’s like no one else exists in the room and Hubby just asked Wifey for her consent in their secret married language. But what absolutely killed me was Sansa’s face when Jon leaves her the North. Props to Sophie and Kit, you guys, I have no words. Sansa haters will say that this is all she wanted, for Jon to leave her in charge to do with Winterfell what she wants. I say no. Sansa has been through so much, and as another blogger pointed out, they both have been constantly told that they know nothing. To suddenly have her experiences acknowledged and validated, and to be put in a position of trust by the ruler of Winterfell, I think that is the most gratifying, humbling thing she has ever experienced. And that all is clearly written on her face. Sophie, I love you.

One last thing. When Sansa gives her speech that Jon is abandoning the North, his people, etc, I SWEAR it’s on the tip of her tongue to say “you’re abandoning me”. I swear it. Fight me. 

THE SCENE which I have literally been looking forward to since the trailer came out was everything that I could have wanted, and more! Jon staring teary-eyed at the statue of his “father”, LF creeping up behind him like the creepyfinger he is, muttering unnecessary nonsense about Cat and how she never loved Jon. Jon is all like “why are you here, tho. Go away, asshole”. And as he’s about to leave, LF let’s slip about Sansa. And Jon FLIPS OUT. My lords and ladies, let me tell you, LF had a suspicion and that suspicion was just confirmed. The most fascinating thing about this episode, TBH, was watching Jon’s face transform from calm, annoyed indifference to snarling dragon-wolf hybrid ready to attack. I mean, his lip twitched and he actually snarled! I am always here for baby Jon going all Crazy Grandpa Aerys when somebody insults his platonic hot sister wife. Always here. And that smirk on LF’s blue face as Jon exits the crypts in a huff, that man knows things.

Not gonna lie, super bummed that we got no formal goodbye scene, and Jonny galloped out of Winterfell way too fast. But I do have some thoughts on what we did get. That wave. Now, I don’t remember the Jaime/Brienne scene, but seeing the gifs floating around, yep, I agree. But what I got from that brief moment was that there was a general feeling of controlled, conscious restraint. Sansa agrees that it’s necessary for Jon to leave. But she’s freaking terrified, and I think that if she lets slip something more that a curt wave and shy smile, the whole dam will break loose and she’ll never recover. That’s what I got.

Ok, time to wrap it up. Thanks for getting this far, hope you enjoyed my ramblings, and tell me what you think.

Love ya, Jonsa fam!