お花見

　(＊)4月14日の花見に参加したJ E さん（スエーデン出身、宮教大留学生）
から感想文を頂いたので、原文のまま掲載します。

We went to Shibata to see the cherry blossoms. We took the train from Sendai station
to Funaoka station, and walked along the fields at the Shiraishi river towards the Funaoka
castle park. The cherry trees along the river had mostly already lost their pink petals,
but even so it was a beautiful view with the hills and river. 

We crossed a bridge and walked up a hill to reach the flower-viewing spot.
There were plenty of trees with their blossoms intact, as well as blooming flowers on the ground,
and there was a good view of the surroundings from our elevated position.
There were little lanterns on the ground next to the walking path.
There were many other visitors to the park besides us.

We sat down inside a building that had large tables near big windows, and we all ate the food
that we had brought with us, including the delightful dishes and cake from Mrs. Chiba. 

The flower-viewing season was being celebrated by the local people with a few festival booths and activities.
I saw mochi pounding in real life for the first time, and for the first time I ate freshly-made mochi.
I really like mochi, so it was exciting to have the freshly-made type. 

The trip made me look forward to seeing Shibata's cherry trees in full bloom in a future year,
as well as to seeing other cherry blossom locations in Japan in future years.