Pension Ann Shirley Takayama

... onsen”) and all piled out of the van and went in. Before Toshi and I could get in the door and to our wallets, they had paid for our entire party’s admission to the onsen. We were all a little hungry so we decided on dinner first, onsen later. We had miso soup, pizza (sort of), ramen and Korean barbeque. It was all very wonderful! The Korean barbeque is cooked at the table over a gas burner. Cabbage, and bean sprouts cooked along side this delicious beef served with a ...

... The group was Mama-san, her sister, one of her friends, the two girls, Michiyo and Meg and Toshi and me – all loaded into the Mano's van and off we went. Toshi and I took the wide back seat and soon we were dosing as Meg drove into the night.

Japan has the most wonderful rest stops. They are nothing like what we have at home – these are little malls in the middle of no where. There are rest rooms, restaurants, little ...

... the bartender spoke amazing english (he spent two years of high school in the u.s) and let us sample a plethora of sake varieties - hot/cold, dry/sweet etc.. until we had all found a favourite. This was followed, as many night henceforth would, by staggering into a local karaoke bar, and proceeding to serenade with and to the locals until around midnight when, to the tune of sweet home alabama, we sauntered home to pack our things for our train the next morning to Hiroshima.

... je suis donc en terrain de connaissance.

Il pleuvait a boire debout a Tokyo a cause du typhon qui a passe au large de la cote est. J'ai donc pris une journee de conge de mes vacances et je n'ai pas fait grand chose. Je voulais aller visiter un temple mais le temps que je traverse la rue pour aller a la station de train, j'etais deja trempee et beaucoup moins motivee ! J'ai quand meme pris le metro pour aller au ...

... and the kanji for shochu and nihonshu are very similar. I certainly didn’t want to drink a big bottle of shochu (we had a train to catch the next day, yo), so we ended up getting some nigori, since we were sure of what it was. Drank it back in our room, watching a reality TV show about an apprentice sushi chef. Kinda cool; nigori was ok.

08.23.09

Last breakfast at Banri. L A “well-done ...

... student.....being that we are soooo far behind, this will be - a picture is worth a thousand words...enjoy the pictures. Your students/children are doing great...we have been sleeping Japanese style on the floor for six nights and are anxious to move on to Hiroshima for real beds and bathrooms in our room. We have been taking the Japanese style baths every night!!...
Gosh, hard to believe our trip is almost over!!!

couldn't get to the computer last nite. only have a minute this morning.
took a train here yesterday. it's up in the "mountains", which are like big hills. it's really such a neat town. their specialty here is making sake and woodworking. i think i'll get a few real pretty bowls.
tim said yesterday on the train "show me the pictures of sedona", he was really missing her and he continues to narrate. as of ...

A Takayama on loge dans un temple, plutot sympa ! La ville est assez touristique et on comprend pourquoi : elle regorge de temples, vieilles batisses, distilleries de sake. Il y a beaucoup d'artisanat local : bois laque, sculptures, herbes sechees... Les sobas (nouille) au sarasin sont la specialite du coin et on approuve ;-) Toujours impossible d'aller a Kamikochi, meme de ce cote. On declare donc forfait et on part vers le sud...

... imorgen i Nagoya, nej ikke under uret, da hun kommer fra Kanazawa, men nu faar vi at se om vi overhovedet kan finde hinanden i mylderet af alle de japanere. Jeg bor lige nu igen i en slags kro/pensionat, hvor den igen staar paa madras paa gulvet seng og saa staar den paa japansk morgenmad i morgen tidlig. Jeg takker af fra nu, vil smutte op i seng...

... we slept soundly on our futons with no screaming from our neighbours. Exploring the town was fun. Every store had something to sample for free. yum. We loved the toasted black sesame brittle. We then drove to Shirakawa-go and viewed the traditional thatched-roof houses of the village. They are so quaint and beautiful, although, it was super touristy. We made it home in one piece and can't wait for our next road trip.