Fujiya Ryokan Takayama

... 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 . . .

... so they are super cautious and have people who walk around the village at night in the spring and summer to look out for any fire that may have started so it can be put out quickly.

After a while walking around this we did a little shopping and had saki – at 9:30 in the morning! It was delicious and strong! My trips with the Mano family are always filled with interesting (and sometimes scary) food and drink.

More later . . .

... onsen, blue= mens. Strip butt naked, scrub and rinse using showers and buckets from head to toe thoroughly OUTSIDE the hot water pool then, once clean, proceed to soak to your heart's content inside the steamy hot bath- all while determinedly maintaining a disreet, above the shoulder line of vision. Sounds a bit odd i know but once you get the hang of it, I can't say there's much else I have experienced that is more relaxing, especially when i discovered the little ...

... me laver quand meme.

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.

Je vous reparle bientot.

Elo xx

... tickets instead of using our JR pass. Big financial ouch. Thoroughly broke, we went back to Banri.

Another fantastic dinner: hoba miso chicken, along with (different) mountain veggies and “+3.” The miso soup had squash in it tonight. Pretty good and also the only miso we saw with something other than tofu or mushrooms in it. Also had seared Hida beef, baby eggplants with cheese (wtf?), tuna ...

... 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...

... Paranoia? Intimidad? (Por cierto, aqui los libros estan "al reves": se empiezan a leer por detras -y se escriben en vertical, y de derecha a izquierda-, asi que la contraportada esta donde nosotros ponemos la portada y, consecuentemente, la portada al "final". Todo un follon para leer algun comic en ingles pero con formato japones. Ya vereis...) Decia que viajando sale a relucir otra aficion: dormir. Lo hacen en el metro, en el tren, en los centros ...

... someone - the left side must go over the right side before you tie the belt - the other way around is how you dress the dead apparently! Once decked out in your Yukata you can brave the communal bathroom - it didn't sound too scary until we realised there are strict rules and in our case even pictoral instructions on how to take a bath. It turns out that you are absolutely not allowed to get shampoo or soap in a Japanese bath ...