Taishoike Hotel Matsumoto

... building in the centre of the old town, complete with torture chamber, a few free tastings at some sake breweries and a trip to the float museum which stands next to the town's largest shrine and which shows off a rotation of the beautifully detailed floats that are brought our around the town every spring and autumn for one of Japan's most popular festivals.<br><br>We reconvened around 7pm for some more hida beef and then managed to find a great little sake bar ...

Settling in in Matsumoto. Spent about 4 1/2 hours on trains today, slow one from Nikko to Utsunomiya, a shinkansen to Omiya, another shinkansen to Nagano, then another slow train to Matsumoto. Signs of civilization at the Matsumoto station - a Starbucks!<br><br>Hoping that I can find the castle tomorrow. The ryokan has bicycles to lend, so I'm going to try and ...

... me laver quand meme. <br><br>Demain nous partons pour Hyroshima. Nous aurons plusieurs heures de train a faire. Entre Tokyo et Takayama, ce n'etait que 4 heures mais demain, c'est plus. Je ne sais pas si ce sera avec le train haute vitesse. Je ne vous en ai pas parle mais c'est vraiment fameux ! On ne sent pas la vitesse sauf quand on va aux toilettes. La, il faut se tenir.<br> <br>Je vous reparle bientot.<br><br>Elo xx <br><br>

... cashed. Unfortunately, it was Saturday and all the banks were closed. After staring at a couple of locked doors, we went to the TIC outside the train station and asked them for help. They located a Savings and Loan (or something) that was open that could cash our checks. Of course it was on the other side of town. <br><br>Had lunch at a local noodle shop (on the far side of town). It was ok. [Not worth ...

... reminds me, last night i spend in a former ninja training vilage high in the mountains...<br>when i went to the next city, 3 kms sout, i met a nice family, wich sat down with me and eventually the maybe 50 year old woman invited me to stay in her house...and this more than once...after my experiences in china i said nothing binding, because they dont give a **** there about promises, concept of hounour unknown...they have the face-concept, something slightly different.<br>dont ...

... 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!!...<br> Gosh, hard to believe our trip is almost over!!!

... she owns the whole of japan, this going on the " if i like it it's mine, if i see it's mine" principle.<br>i love you sweetheart. we both miss you both. i'm getting some stares here, so i need to go. i'll try to get on computer tonite. have to do laundry too. <br>i'll tell tim about orientation stuff. that was very thoughtful of you. <br>miss you much, you too kate :)<br>love you forever, like you for always<br>mom

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...

... found shelter, it was in an overpriced restaurant for more soba, which I'm sick of by now. The saddest thing is that I know that this place has some really beautiful views--not only in postcard, but there's a section where you're walking on planks over a bog that is running between a forest of trees, and it's eerie and it's totally unique. Plus, occasionally, the snow open up and you see some shadows of mountains all around you. But four hours of dealing with hellish ...

... uehmt fu** seine Kueche. Hi** gibt es einige b**uehmte Spezialitaeten. - Basashi, das ist rohes(!) Pf**defleisch - Hachinoko, das sind Bienenlarven (od** larvae?) - Inago, Grillen (die Insekten) - Zazamushi, Koech**fliegenlarven (od** larvae?) Nun ich habe mir heute Mexikanisch und eine Bentobox Sushi gegoennt:-) Ich bin aus einem and**en Grund nach Matsumoto gefahren. Es gibt in Japan vi** Burgen, die Nationale Schaetze sind ...