Takayama!!!

October 1, 2012-

Last I left you was waiting for someone from our ryokan to come pick us up at the train and bus station.  A very sweet lady, whom you'll see later on, picked us and another American couple up from the station and brought us to the ryokan.  However, since our rooms weren't ready yet (still pretty early in the day) she suggested we leave our luggage in the entry way and go explore Takayama.  

GREAT IDEA!

So….what are you waiting for???? Let's go!!!!  (plus, we're pretty anxious to find something to eat for lunch and I bet you're ready for lunch too)

Before we left on our little walk the American couple who traveled in the van with us told us about the miso houses and the sake breweries that are popular here.  Let's keep our eyes open and see if we can find them!

Talk about narrow roads!

Can you see the teeny tiny fish??

The Designated Smoking Area

A little window shopping….check out the unusual items for sale in this shop:

Ummmm….very …ummm….interesting! LOL! (Actually, I think this stuff is very interesting but I honestly wouldn't want it in my house!)

Let's do a little more window shopping…and maybe find lunch???  Lunch would be good!

I wonder if this place is a sake brewery???

Whoa! That's one beefy looking table! I wonder if it will fit into my suitcase???? Just kidding!

Random little souvenirs for sale

Mark and the girls have finally spotted a restaurant!  Do you know how hard it is to find a restaurant?  Especially with the fabric door-covering thingies…it's difficult to look into the shops and restaurants.  There are very few indications from the street of what's inside (perhaps if I could read Japanese it would be all obvious to me but sadly I can't read any Japanese). 

The girls ordered lemonade. They got Kirin brand lemon something. (as in Kirin the beer brand) We grown ups had to try out the lemonade to make sure it was, in fact, non-alcoholic! (it was)

No idea what we ordered but doesn't it look good??????

Everyone loves a noodly soup!

WOW!  That miso- mushroom – beef meal was AWESOME!!!!  I just love these individual little cookers that cook your food and keep it warm for you.  Brilliant!  But…what's that leaf that the food is sitting on top?

Oh, that lunch hit the spot!  I hope you enjoyed yours too!

Now….I read about some sake breweries in a pamphlet that I snatched from the ryokan.  I'm kind of thinking that there must be some on the road we've been wandering up and down on…let's go see if we can find one!  I'm kind of curious to try sake!

YAY!!!  We found one:

Let's try some of the sake:

Free Tasting Corner (it says so. Really, it does!)

Gosh darn it! Chinese bai jiu – aka airplane fuel or toxin- has destroyed my taste for sake! Some of the sake was too close in taste to bai jiu. If you've ever tried the Chinese stuff you'll know what I mean. It's the nastiest stuff on the planet!

Well, we really didn't love any of the sake choices.  They were amusing but not enough to pay Big Bucks for them.  We'll pass.  But….there are the sake cheesecakes for sale.  Let's pick up one of those and try them out!!!!   

There's just enough time to stop and get a soft-serve ice cream in a cone and then it's time to head back to the ryokan to check in!  

We're in our room now….it's time for us to chill out for a bit.  Come back and I'll show you around our ryokan!