Dream Trip 2009

Great Travel Moment

My husband lived in Japan at one time and I always wanted to visit the country with him. This year we finally made the trip, but it wasn?t until we went to Asakusa that I felt we?d left the west behind. The Nakamise shopping street leading to the Sensoji Temple is filled with shops selling trinkets, sweets and local snacks. It was interesting to learn about a few of the practices, such as, wafting incense over oneself as an act of purification and purchasing your fortune. We selected a stick from a metal cylinder then gave the stick to a temple official who, in return, issued us a piece of paper that read, ?When spring comes, willows are in bud. Just like flowers bloom on old branches, something happy will come.? It really was good fortune just to have visited.