To close this botanical garden series, here is a photo one could dub the “Loch Nice Monster” (you may now groan). I was actually trying to capture the water lilies and goldfish when this whopper of a Japanese carp appeared out of nowhere. It’s hard to get an idea of the size of this fish, but the two goldfish were not exactly tiny, nor were the water lilies. Apparently, these large fish are a symbol of love and friendship in Japan, but it seems this is based on the word “Koi”: it means carp but sounds identical to a word that means affection. Somehow, I suspected it was not a visual thing! These carps can get very old; the oldest Koi on record was named “Hanako” and died in 1977 at the ripe old age of 226 years. You just can’t make up stuff like that...