First, let me mention that we are staying at a place called "J-hoppers," a small private chain of youth hostels. We have a "family room" which is very comfortable.
We share bathrooms and showers, which we are used to by now, and there is a large shared kitchen as well as several sitting rooms. There is always some hip music playing in the lobby. The staff speak good english and are always cheerful and ready to offer advice. We met some Jewish travelers, the first time that has happened, and shared some stories about Japanese perceptions of Jews. (Basically some Japanese people have no clue what Jews are and assume that we are a Christian sect like Mormons!) Anyway this place has grown on us and we now really like it here!
This morning we started off just walking out the door and heading for the market and shrine districts. We stopped to eat some food at a riverbank. There were little neighborhood shrines along the way and even tourist rickshaws driving about.
The streets here are narrow and packed with shops of all kinds. There are several streets that are "preserved" and look as they would have several hundred years ago.
Like most Japanese cities, this place has several rivers running though it. The bridges are very pretty, and there are houses and trees right along the edges of the river. Also like most Japanese rivers, there are concrete barriers along the edges, but here they somehow look prettier. Check out the pictures.
After breakfast we walked up the hill to the temple district. There are a series of temples on the hillside. They were beautiful structures with beautiful gardens. Between the temples were graveyards with paths and there were lizards darting between them.
After our walk and a little Benna meltdown, we returned to the shopping district for food. We tried another noodle shop and sampled some local specialties - "Zaro Soba" and "Mountain Vegetable Udon." The soba was cold, served with fresh scallions, and you dip it in the broth.
The udon was fantastic, and it was a delight for Aleeza to finally find something on the menu that had no meat in it!
We walked some more, we just couldn't get enough of the town. Here are some houses, typical for this area. We discovered this nest of sparrows under the roof of a house.
After some dowwntime, we returned to the first noodle place we had visited and ordered the house summer specialty, "Tomato Ramen."
This was the best food item of the week for me. That's not too shabby because it was a good week for food! The broth was a creamy tomato basil broth, with some meat and fresh scallions and grated parmesan cheese, and fresh hot ramen noodles. Jana had grilled meat on rice, the girls shared a plain bowl of Ramen.
After that feast we took a shuttle bus to a local hotspring "onsen" spa. Nice place, lots of different hot baths to play in. I was of course alone on the men's side, so I got bored and went to the restaurant where I discovered that they were having a SALE on Chivas Regal whiskey, shots for 200 yen, about 2 bucks. I ordered a shot and a draft beer, and they came in similar sized glasses. I couldn't imagine paying more for beer than Chivas, so I downed it and ordered another.
By the time the girls came out I was ready to explain the plot of the gameshow I had been watching, but I couldn't tell when the show ended and the commercials started. Oh well, time to board the shuttle bus and get driven around town some more!
Now it's off to bed and rest for another day. Tomorrow night will be our last night "on the road." I will write more about it later.
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