Wel City Nagano

... At one of the stairs, one of the castle staff was yelling out something in Japanese. I proceeded up the stairs and then "Owwwww!" I hit my head on one of the support beams. I guess the guy was saying watch your head! At the top of the castles, there were some really nice views of the city. On the way down, we went on the moon deck. Apparently Matsumoto is only one of two Japanese castles with a moon deck. Must be really nice at ...

... adquisitivo lo encuentras allí. Desde luego no se trata de una de las zonas de las que más disfrutamos pero merece la pena caminar por el glamour de "Roppongi Hills" e incluso dejarse caer por uno de sus aseos públicos para investigar todas las opciones que te dan sus inodoros (chorros, vaporizador, asiento calefactado, música, etc.). En su entrada y junto al acceso al metro está la Plaza ...

... some money on cab fare. Hopefully I can remember to ride on the left side of the street and the other vehicles remember to do the same. I'm also hoping that the rumors of English-speaking guides are true.

Adjusting my expectations... I had thought I'd zip through the castle and get to Kyoto early. Probably not. Everything takes longer than you think.

... Natto ohne Reis nur pur mit etwas Senf und Sojasauce nicht schmeckt. Wenig Natto mit viel Reis - okay. Viel Natto ohne Reis - no go. das wusst ich eigentlich schon seit dem letzten besuch in Japan...ab** man kanns ja nochmal v**suchen, weils doch so gesund ist.
Jetzt haben wir nochmal eine Nacht dazugebucht und wollen morgen etwas ins gebirgig**e Landesinn**e mit den Zug, mal sehen ob wir den Bären doch noch zu gesicht bekommen... (hoffenlich nicht)

so i am in matsumoto, out of the last 7 nights i spend 6 on parkbenches, the last time i took public transport was 8 days ago and suddenly i have a lot to write about...
First, a night in a youthhostel in JP sets you back around 35 to 40 dollar per night...nothing included, except the privilege to check in after 4 pm and leave before nine...ah...and at 9 pm they lock you in...thanks, then i prefer to sleep in my sleepingbag in a park,more fun, mmore adventure, more cheap....

Matsumoto, Chubu, Japan asci

... There we spent the night in a ryoken- a traditional guest house with tatimi mats that you sleep on. The place was very old and our room was enveloped by cool paper sliding doors. The hostess poured us some green tea before she left and gave us kimonos to wear around the place. For dinner we went out and found ourselves in a Hawaiian restaurant- bit odd I know! Then we went back and slept on the floor.

... and pictures of japanese ladies. We spent the afternoon exploring the town and Mark had a chestnut icecream- the place is also reknowned for its chestnut confectionary. By this point we had spent all of the cash we had on us and were directed to 2 atms nearby, however neither would accept our cards (all visa) even though they had the visa logo on them. These were the only places to get money out in the whole town and we had no other way of getting any, arggh! So we ...

... you can get really close to the monkeys and watching the mums with the baby monkeys is lovely. Unfortunately the monkeys only come down when they are fed so luckily we timed it perfectly and managed to get some brilliant shots. But wait around if there aren't any there once you get there they will soon turn up when the keeps start throwing the pellets on the ground.

We also met an Australian family with a 8 month old baby on a similar trip ...

... the other day. It's a much less traveled route through town, twisting and turning past old houses and hole-in-the-wall eateries. Walking past the local watering station or something, not sure exactly what they call it, but people come to fill up their containers, I snapped a quick picture of a woman who probably thought I was strange for taking a picture of a watering place. Anyway. I came to the train station and walked up to the ticket ...

... to come by to take us back into town. Eventually one arrived and we walked up to the Zenkoji Temple past a street full of temple residences.

We wandered around the temple complex and gardens and even saw someone ringling the large bell using a wooden log before walking back down to the train station and catching the train back to Tokyo.