Monday, April 28, 2008

Lily Fest


On Sunday Benny and I did our first tour through the military guide group.

We visited Ie Island, which is a 30-minute ferry ride from the northeast side of Okinawa. The purpose of the tour was to visit a park where there was hundreds of lilies in bloom for a Lily Festival.

Besides eating traditional Japanese food and listening to Japanese music at the flower fest, we were also bused around the small island.

We went to Ernie Pyle monument. This is the site of the Pulizter Prize winning war correspondent's death by sniper fire during World War II.

In an opposite viewpoint of the history of World War II, we visited a cave where 1,000 villagers lived in during the bombings of the island. It was very damp and dark and it was hard to imagine that many people living in such a small space.

We also hiked to the top of Mt. Gusuku, the highest spot on the island. You can see the whole island from the top.

All in all it was a long day, but a lot of fun. We can't wait to do another tour with our fellow Americans living in Oki.

2 comments:

TammyK said...

I just read about Ernie Pyle on Wikipedia. I never knew about him before, so thanks for the history lesson. (Earlier today I read about the journalists on the new stamps, so it's been a very enlightening day.)

volksbloggin said...

Tammy, I'm glad I could teach you about Ernie Pyle. I guess I won't give dirty looks to the military ppl anymore when they ask the same question on the tour.