On the final day of our trip we were a bit tired but still wanted to see a few things and just casually enjoy our time.

We ended up going to Marugame Castle as our first destination. It was really cool as it's one of the 12 castles in Japan that still has an original castle keep. The castle itself isn't very large, but the area surrounding it is. From the bottom of the castle the keep is quite small so it's hard to get a good photo of it, but we got a photo of it with one of the turrets along the moat wall which was cool.

We reserved a rickshaw ride the previous night as well so when we got to the castle we did a little exploring and then we went on a guided tour around the lower area of the castle. The rickshaw guide was a really nice guy and quite funny as well. Apparently he was a comedian but he enjoyed doing this job as well. He told us a bunch of different things about the castle and it's construction while also telling some jokes occasionally.

After the rickshaw tour we climbed our way up to the top of the castle and there were saw really amazing views waiting for us at the top. You could see the entire city almost. We also entered the castle keep, but it was relatively small. It was still nice to see the architecture on the inside but the stairs were a bit scary. They were incredibly steep and I was holding the handrails the entire time going up or down them.

After checking out the castle we were pretty hungry and so we decided to get some lunch. Being Kagawa is the udon prefecture we went to an udon specialty restaurant. I haven't been to many udon restaurants so it was kind of a new experience for me. They had it set up kind of like a cafeteria and you go through and choose what you want and other toppings to go with your udon.
I didn't see the trays for the extra toppings so I just ended up putting the karaage on top of my udon lol.
I got niku udon and it tasted really good. The karaage was a nice touch as well. Not the usual tempura most people get but it went surprisingly well with the soup.

After eating we headed towards Nakazu Banshoen, a garden with art exhibits as well. Before getting there we decided to stop by a Lupin-themed cafe though. It was a really tiny shop but we were able to cool off for a bit and relax which was nice since we were walking quite a bit.

The garden was quite large and had a lot of different points of interest within it. The stepping stones were fun to cross and the row of torii gates was pretty cool as well. You can definitely take some nice photos with them.

And that concludes our trip to Takamatsu! Overall it was a really fun trip and I definitely recommend it to anyone who hasn't been to Shikoku or Kagawa before. We didn't even get to do everything we were looking at but we still had a blast!

Was nice weather over the weekend so I did a little exploring.

Found this nice little temple near the Sumida River called Hozoin Temple (寳蔵院) in Arakawa.
I wasn't sure where exactly I was allowed to go inside the temple, and I didn't have much time anyways, so I just took a peak through the gates and snapped a photo.
It was a really quaint place and apparently it has some landscape paintings and itabi tablets.
From what I saw, it looked like there was a garden across the ground.
Maybe a rock garden or something of the sort, I wasn't able to get a good look at it though.
The area around the temple was the hunting grounds of the Tokugawa Shogunate as well it seems.
Pretty amazing to imagine there was enough greenery in the area to hunt in the past.

Also managed to stop by a nice udon/soba restaurant for lunch.
It was called Sunaba (砂場) I believe.
I ordered the kamo (duck) nanban udon and it tasted great.
Haven't had duck in a while, but it's always a treat.
The lady taking orders was really nice as well.
Overall a great place!

Went to Hanaya Yohei, a restaurant near Oku Station and ordered the Miso-Nikomi Udon. It tasted pretty good and cost less than ¥1000 yen. I'd like to go back as the atmosphere of the restaurant was quite nice and it seemed like there was a lot of different menu items to try. I'd walked past the restaurant so many times in the past, and just never had the opportunity to go in until now. Overall it was a pretty good place and even though it seemed like there was a lot of people we got seated instantly which was nice.

撮影場所：香川県高松市にあるうどん店。あん餅入りさぬきうどん。香川県の特に、東部地域では、お正月に、あん餅入りの白みそ雑煮を食べる慣習がある。また、年明けうどんとして、あん餅を入れたさぬきうどんも賞味することができる。

Tried a new tsuyu again lol. A spicy flavor this time. It’s not as spicy as it looks actually, just the right level of spicy. The tsuyu was 赤から apparently from Nagoya. Goes great with udon too. Tasted really good

日本の家庭料理。
手打ちうどん。

娘と一緒に朝からこねこね、踏み踏み?
粘土遊びのように楽しんでやってくれました☺️

鯖節を効かせた出汁に、先日煮込んで冷凍しておいたスペアリブを投入。

我が家のうどんは吉田うどんのようなコシのある麺に、お肉は沖縄そばに乗っかっているソーキをのせます?

そして、さらにラードを入れて豚の甘味も追加して?

意外と簡単にできる手打ちうどん。
おすすめです☺️

日本人の食卓 。コロナ禍でなかなか外食にいけないので自作料理で外食した気分に浸っています。本日はぶっかけうどん。自宅なので好きなモノトッピングし放題。

日本の家庭料理。
ランチにいただきました。

明太子バターの、かきたまうどん。
寒い日は温かいものに癒される。

「嵐山さくら餅 稲」の湯葉うどん。
紅葉のトッピングが今の季節にピッタリでした。

伊勢神宮にお参り行ったときに食べた伊勢うどん?
ふわふわ柔らかいおうどんでした！

いわゆる武蔵野うどん。東京都北西部の多摩地域から埼玉県西部にかけて広がる武蔵野台地一帯の地域で、古くから食べられてきたうどん。 コシがかなり強く、食感は力強い物でゴツゴツしている。

阪急三番街の「うどん兎麦」にて、『全部入りぶっかけ』960円。
流石にボリューム満点！

美々卯さんのおうどん❤️温玉がうどんと出汁に絡んで最高でした?

滋賀県長浜市にある、うどんや湖国郷土料理を提供している人気店「茂美志屋」の『紅もみじ』。

奈良県奈良市にある「喜楽庵」の『天ぷらぶっかけ』。

四国といったらやっぱり讃岐うどん！
香川県へ讃岐うどんを食べに行ってきました。

香川県を車で走っていると、本当にうどん屋ばかりが目に付く。

今回行ってきたのは八栗にある山田家。
大泉洋さんの代表作「水曜どうでしょう」に登場して、聖地とまで言われるうどん屋です。

ぶっかけうどん（350円）を頼みましたが、本格的な讃岐うどんにうすくちの透明なお出汁が最高?

香川で讃岐うどん巡りをする際は車かレンタカーで行くのが便利ですよ。