Tea Ceremony Style

This wasn't my first tea ceremony and it won't be my last. Tea ceremonies are always more than I expect and they are always really overwhelming, in both an exciting and an exhausting way. It started with a multi-course lunch of rice, miso, grilled fish, tofu, vegetables, pickels, fish eggs, a fish stomach (?), a stinky flower, and sashimi. After lunch we had our first course of sweets and a thick tea. After thick tea we had another course of sweets and thin tea. After some more ceremonies and formalities, we finished with a plate of huge strawberries, some more formalities, a photograph and good-byes. Here are the photo highlights: