Japanese Garden

It was free admission day at the Japanese Garden, and since it was President's Day and partly sunny, it was unbelievably crowded. There were lines. It was the antithesis of the meditative experience one is intended to have. Despite that, we had a lovely time - the children thrilled at the carp, danced over the little stone paths and bridges, tried their best to fall into various ponds, giggled madly at a tilting water spout, and happily gazed at the view of the city. (One mishap: before I could realize what she was about to do, Liesl ran out onto the smoothly raked pebble garden, leaving her footprints and disturbing the perfectly straight lines. Oops.)