Alps-kan Matsumoto

... home! So after more stops at rest stops and potty breaks we pulled up in front of my apartment 22 hours after we left in the morning – beat!

The Mano family are the sweetest people I have ever met and generous beyond belief. I am so grateful that they are so kind to invite me to go on these great trips, I have seen some amazing places during my visits here!

I hope all is well with you and yours and that your Thanksgiving is wonderful!!!!


More later . . .

... manhole covers in each of the towns we visited.

It was noon so we went to grab some lunch. There was a soba (a type of thin Japanese noodle made from buckwheat flour. It's served either chilled with a dipping sauce, or in hot broth) restaurant named Nomugi that was recommended by Lonely Planet. According to the guidebook, the owner was a famous soba maker in the region. We were only given an address of the restaurant and ...

... tub in an enclosed space outside and proceeded to soak in that on my own for a good 20 mins (i believe the term i would use to describe my complexion after that was beetroot!).

Post soak and it was time for dinner at a local eatery which was kind enough to introduce us to a local delicacy of the region- Hida beef. While quite fatty, this beef is quite lean on the outside with most of the fat content coming from the multiple, fine marbled lines that run through it ...

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!

Hoping that I can find the castle tomorrow. The ryokan has bicycles to lend, so I'm going to try and ...

... les restaurants. En fait, les retardataires ferment a 7h maximum. J'ai donc pris un peu de temps pour vous ecrire parce que dans les autres villes, je ne suis pas certaine que j'aurai autant de temps de disponible.

Nous habitons dans un ryokan mais rien a voir avec le Motonago de Kyoto. Nous devons partager la douche et le bain....comme dans un gym. Moyen mais bon, il fait assez chaud, je ne passerai pas 2 jours ...

08.21.09


Boarded the train and took a beautiful ride to Takayama. Absolutely gorgeous mountain scenery the entire trip up. Took about 3.5 hours. Forrest-covered mountains, deep river valleys, small towns nestled on the hillside. This one lake had an eerily-cool mist develop over it, even as we rode by it. Totally awesome.

Raining in Takayama when we arrived. Walked through town towards our hotel ...

... reminds me, last night i spend in a former ninja training vilage high in the mountains...
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.
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!!...
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.
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.
i'll tell tim about orientation stuff. that was very thoughtful of you.
miss you much, you too kate :)
love you forever, like you for always
mom

... jingles in the supermarket drive me mad (hey, I can now read 90% of one of the three alphabets, and 75% of the other, so I now have SOME idea of what I'm buying)... and even if the cylists send me loopy by being COMPLETELY unaware/unpredicatable and mostly on the wrong side of the road! So as long as I get some kind of visa, I'm staying put for a while... OK... until next month! まずは右ま ;で。