9 November: Njio Castle 二条城, Kyoto 京都

The castle is considered huge as it comes with 2 moots and 2 palaces! However, it's puzzling why were there stone bridges that link the 'islands' with the main land? Isn't it the moot is meant to 'cut off' any access (a defence mechanism)? Well, perhaps we have been too used to the role of moot (from the European castles, etc).

The main palace "Ninomaru Palace" was open for access... it's plain... moving from one room to another room... along a corridor that supposedly uniquely designed Nightingale Floor so that when one walks, the corridor floor will squeak... Hahaha... it's to detect any intruder??? How about ninjas who were suppose to be light and could 'fly' around? hahaha... I wonder... Well, true enough, it's unique to the palace as I yet came across this in other castles or palaces that visited so far... 'cos all of them came with concrete/tiled floorings!!! The overall impression was it's not lavish except those golden linings and art pieces on the walls of each room - with golden colour spreaded across the wall... the paintings were mainly garden scenes with some animals like tiger and eagle in some rooms... of course, that's where power was!

Unfortunately, the inner palace, Honmaru Palace was not opened to public.

Anyway, it's a pleasant experience to walk through the beautiful gardens - so beautiful and colourful! wow! It's a pity that the sky turned totally dark at 5 pm.