Setagaya (Austria, not Japan)

Vienna's public transportation is awesome, that is well known.  The buses, trams, and U-Bahn are reliable, efficient, economical--pretty much everything that DC area public transportation should strive to become. Plus, the system has a nifty app, Qando, that provides next-arrival information (including cute little photos of the approaching trams and buses) and a route planning tool that I have found indispensable.

But this is not a PSA for the Wiener Linien's app. Except to say that as I was making my way home from an unusual direction the other day, the route planning map identified Setagaya Park near to our house, one that I was not familiar with.  Well!  It so happens that the park, named for the "Sister City" of Dobling (the 19th District name) that is shared with Setagaya, a suburb of Tokyo has been around since 1922.  The park has beautiful Japanese influences, and I was tickled that I had my real camera with me so that you wouldn't have to suffer with iPhone camera blobs.

At the park entrance is a traditional tea house.

With paths that wind past stone lanterns, bridges, and waterfalls.

What a perfect unexpected treat to discover at the end of my outing!