Mike's Mom suggested that we needed to visit the Japanese Tea Garden. This garden the oldest public Japanese garden in the United States and it's located inside Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. It was originally built as part of a sprawling World's Fair, the California Midwinter International Exposition of 1894.
This beautiful Japanese Garden offers many paths, ponds and a teahouse features plants and trees pruned and arranged in a Japanese style. The garden's three acres contain sculptures and structures influenced by Buddhist and Shinto religious beliefs, as well as many elements of water and rocks to create a calming landscape designed to slow people down.
The Tea House is located by the water, and is surrounded by views of different aspects of the garden. The Tea House currently offers six kinds of tea: Jasmine, Sencha, Hōjicha, Genmaicha, and my favorite, iced Green tea. They also offer the traditional tea used in ceremonies, Matcha. It also offers a variety of snacks including yummy ice cream that Mike enjoyed.
A taiko bashi, or drum bridge is a highly arched pedestrian bridge found in Chinese and Japanese gardens. It is thus named because when reflected on the water, the full circle shape it creates resembles a drum.
Karesansui - dry landscape garden has a waterfall and a body of water are represented by large stones and gravel raked in waves. Islands are in the shape of tortoises, which are symbols of immortality and good luck. A karesansui, or dry landscape garden, is a style of Japanese garden where stones and gravel represent waterfalls, oceans, and mountains.
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