Flowers in Iwata (1) - The Most Beautiful Flowers by Redouté

From yesterday, April 27, to the beginning of May, we have more national holidays than usual because the current emperor will abdicate, and his son will be enthroned on May 1. Many people have 10-day holidays, which may be unusual for corporate employees. Though I’m a freelancer, I have also much time during these holidays.

Today, I went to Iwata to see flowers. While I was still walking in downtown of Hamamatsu, I saw beautiful roses. They seemed be taken care of by people who live near there.

I took train to Toyoda-cho and went to the bus stop from which a free shuttle bus goes to Gyokoji Temple I wanted to visit. There I learned that the bus leaves very one hour, and I had to wait for 50 minutes. So, I went to the Museum of Fragrance, Iwata first, which I had intended to visit later.

The museum has now an exhibition “Choix Des Plus Belles Fleurs (The Most Beautiful Flowers) by Redouté and Fragrance of Roses.“ After I bought an entrance ticket, I got a surprise from a staff member of the museum. She handed me real roses! I heard later that they are given out to visitors on weekends.

This time, it was prohibited to take pictures inside of the exhibition. It’s a pity but understandable. The exhibition showed a collection of botanical art of Pierre-Joseph Redouté (1759-1840). He was a court painter to Queen Marie Antoinette and Empress Josephine.

The pictures were very finely and delicately painted. It reminded me pictures in encyclopedia. The most interesting thing for me was, however, the fragrance of Marie Antoinette. The fragrance of roses matched her image. There was also the fragrance of Josephine, which was sharper than that of Marie Antoinette. If I had known much about Josephine, I could have appreciated the fragrance better.

Outside of the exhibition rooms of the pictures, there were bottles to smell the fragrance of different kinds of roses. After enjoying them, I went to the tea room. They had a new drink, rose soda, on the menu. It looked a little different from the rose juice I had last time.

It had also a red rose on top.

These are roses I got from the staff member when I bought the ticket at the entrance.

Rose soda had a similar fragrance to rose juice, but its taste was lighter. As it was carbonated, it was refreshing, and I thought it may be better to drink in summer.

The gift shop was selling many things concerning roses. These are magnetic clips.

Sweets such as candies and gummi candies.

There were even smartphone cases.

The goods sold there were totally different from the last time, giving visitors new inspiration. I thought that it might be worth purchasing an annual pass (1000 yen) for the museum.