Saturday April 5th - Our step count increases

 

Opening the curtains of our room on the 7th floor this morning we are delighted to see a clear blue sky and sunshine. Breakfast in this smaller traditional hotel is slightly different, as not surprisingly there is a more limited choice of non Japanese options. I've got used to the tasty range of salads on offer though and also dishes of chopped seaweed with a sprinkling of sesame seeds and chopped walnuts. All the fresh fruit served at the breakfasts has been very tasty so we are certainly doing our gut health a lot of good!

Matsumoto is in the area of the Japanese Alps and we have good views of rhe snow covered peaks this morning.

Today we are visiting Matsumoto Castle, one of rhe oldest castle in Japan. The imposing structure was built in 1594, but nearly torn down in the late 1800's. Only the pressure from local residents who fought for its preservation led to it being saved and declared a National Treasure.

Can you glimpse the castle through the trees?

We have been warned in advance that before entering the 7 storey castle we will have to remove our shoes, so all have prepared with clean, marching socks with no holes! It's a real challenge however just to get up the first set of half a dozen steps as they are very deep and our thigh muscles need to work hard!

Once inside the impressive wooden structure, we can see the way it has been constructed, with wooden joints and beams secured with neat coils of rope.We follow the route round along the smooth wooden floors and are soon faced with the second challenge, a flight of steep, wooden stairs that we all need to use our arms to pull ourselves up with as well as our legs.

Each floor tells the story of the Shogun warriors who inhabited the castle, I can just imagine that running up and down the steep stairs would have resulted in them being super fit - we however are grateful of the respite of walking around each floor before being faced with the next flight of steep wooden stairs!  After managing 5 floors, at the last but one floor I decide that I have reached my limit - the next flight looks even steeper and narrower, plus the thought of having to come down almost vertical smooth wooden stairs wearing just socks does not inspire me with confidence and I leave Trev to complete the last of the 114 steps.

 We both manage to come down all the slippery stairs without incident, although some of us did have the same thought - that sitting and coming down on our bottoms might have been safer! It's lovely to be out in the bright spring sunshine and we spend a pleasant time wandering through the grounds where we come across a newly married couple having some wedding photographs taken - what a perfect spot! The cherry blossom isn't quite fully out yet in this more northern part of the country, but it still looks stunning in the sunshine.

Zoom in to see the beautiful embroidery on the girl's kimono.

The next part of the day is to visit a miso factory in the town where we learn about the process and are given the opportunity to sample miso soup - most of us don't find it very palatable, although a couple of the party do have a miso ice cream that apparently is delicious.

Back on the coach we settle down to what we have been warned will be a long journey. The prospect does not sound appealing, although it doesn't take us long to realise that we are travelling up through the mountain road to Takayama, a route that involves multiple bends, tunnels through the mountainside, cascading waterfalls and spectacular views on either side of the snow capped peaks. It's hard to capture a decent photo from the bus, but here are a couple of attempts.

Tour guide Hero decides now is the time to teach us some more Japanese, this time introducing us to 5 common Japanese characters and explaining how children are taught the very complicated ( it seems to us) language system in school, where they are expended to learn over 2,500 different characters, or 'letters' eventually.

She explains that some writing goes from left to right, but it can also go right to left and horizontally too!

The road climbs higher and higher, with our driver ( who has been named 'Harrisan' as his Japanese name was to tricky for us) doing a great job, with occasionally the need to stop and let a coach coming the other way have priority around the bend. Just after the road begins  to descend, we pull into a service area, the chance to stretch our legs and have a coffee and bite to eat. 

We are very surprised to see a Costa take away machine here and have our first ever Costa coffee from a machine! It's then another hour or more before we approach Takayama, but once again our Japanese tour guide Hero is not one to have us falling asleep so decides to teach us all a little song all about the cherry blossom complete with the  music!                      

 The 3rd tourist destination of this very long day, the Hilda Folk Village. To be honest, I don't think many of us were viewing this  with much enthusiasm, but once inside the site, we discover that it is an outdoor museum with examples of traditional Japanese houses built around a central lake in the style of a traditional village from 110's of years ago. It's really interesting to walk around and go into the traditional houses, again taking our shoes off before entering.

No nails or screws here!

The Japanese desire for neatness and orderliness, even in the rice field.

I took this photo of the mountains in the distance; it was only later that I realised rhe huge white building was actually our hotel!