Momiji in Gifu

One of my colleagues had mentioned going for food sometime and since we hadn't had a chance to go yet, I brought it up with her during the week and we settled on going to see the Momiji in Gifu prefecture and getting some food after. Momiji literally translates to 'red leaves' but is read to mean the changing colours of autumn leaves. Historically the characters for Momiji 紅葉, means red leaves & maple tree. So that gives you a good idea of what we would be going to see!

We went to a small town but it is famed for it's groves of autumnal Momiji. It turns out that the part of Gifu we were going to is quite far, despite being the neighbouring prefecture! We went by car and my friend drove us - it took 3 hours to get there and get parked! 

But, it was worth the long drive for the illuminations and beautiful colours in the grove. We went the day before the last day that the illuminations were running for so it was pretty busy - but I could understand why.

The autumnal colours were gorgeous and vibrant - when lit up from underneath caused a beauty that caught your breath. There was also a surprise awaiting us as we neared the first gathered crowd. The colours were already very beautiful in the trees as we walked through the entrance but once we reached the first crowd of people, we discovered that there were pools of water which perfectly reflected the lit up trees. The mirror-like quality of the water and the vibrant colours of the leaves made for some beautiful pictures and a breathtaking sight.

It was relaxing to walk around the paths, taking in the colours and appreciating the mirror-like reflections. We walked around and took pictures for the best part of an hour before we got a little hungry.

There were pop-up food stalls there selling lots of different Japanese foods and some stalls which were farmers markets, selling vegetables that had been grown locally. I got my first ramen since arriving in Japan and I wasn't sure if I'd like it since I'm not particularly fond of soup but I really enjoyed it. Since it had gotten chilly whilst we were walking around, the ramen was the perfect warmer.

Not wanting to make the journey home just yet, we headed to a cafe to enjoy some Italian food and a good chat. I tried a Japanese Italian dish which was toasted slices of garlic bread onto which you put some shrimp and mushrooms which are soaked in oil. I don't like mushrooms, so I just had the oil and shrimp on mine but it was really nice. 

I have been trying not to eat too many desserts or chocolate but I had to break my rule here because they had the most amazing looking chocolate cake and I just had to try it! It came out with lots of fruit on it, so of course it was actually a healthy dessert! It tasted really good - especially so since I knew I wasn't supposed to have any!

After we'd eaten, we drove for 2 hours to get home. Driving back, the queue to get to the illuminated Momiji grove was enormous. It just seemed never-ending and stretched so far back that we couldn't stop laughing. It was a quiet country road that we'd driven in on but every corner we turned, there seemed to be more and more cars. We couldn't believe how far people were queuing for and it made us so glad that we'd come a lot earlier. Eventually, we found the end of the queue and had a moment of silence for the poor people who'd be waiting for so long to get there. The rest of our journey was pretty uneventful and by the time I arrived home, I was really tired and just collapsed into bed.