shinkansen!

I left Tokyo on Tuesday morning on a Shinkansen bound for Nagoya, I then got on a train that had extra big windows so that you could look at the scenery as you went up the into the mountains. I forgot how much fun riding the Shinkansen is it is really the best way to travel long distances so much more comfortable then a bus of aeroplane and it takes from the centre of one city to the centre of another no need to trek in from the periphery like an aeroplane (although granted no where near as fast as a aeroplane). I sat back listened to music, ate my food and watched the world wiz by the window. After a short change over in Nagoya it was off to Takayama, a slower trip but with very nice views as the train followed the river for the last half of the trip. 

I dropped my bag of at my hostel and then walked to the preserved area of the town where there are still old houses and shops. I then went and sat under a willow tree by the river, to do some painting. While I was painting I had two people come up to me to say hello. The first was a Japanese lady that had come up on a bus trip for the day to go sightseeing. Her English was not very good and my Japanese doesn't go beyond, hello, I'm from Australia, it is hot today, are you sightseeing... So  we spent quite some time smiling and nodding as we tried to make each other understood. The second person was a local man who was pushing his mountain bike home, he tolled me that as he was retired his hobby now was to go bike riding in the country side. He had very good English and even said goodbye by saying cherio! He was very lovely to talk with and I really liked getting to talk to two Japanese people it is not something that happens as much in big cites like Tokyo even Saporro it doesn't happen. 

I went to the supermarket to pick up some tofu (it was the worst I have had so far in Japan) and went back to the hostel to make miso. The other guests in the hostel were nice to talk to and the couple that own the hostel are very lovely. They have a little boy who is eighteen months old who was particularly taken with on of the guests who was from Canada. The hostel was very nice it was most things a hostel should be: lade back, clean and comfortable. 

On wednesday morning I slept in until 8am and had a slow breakfast. I then packed up my day pack and set off for a walk up to the grounds of the ruined castle and around the temple district. I had a nice walk, although it was very hot (but not too humid which was a relief) and spent time writing the blog post for Tokyo and stopped to draw a little shrine that was sitting out on a little pond. On the way back to the centre of the city I found the local library and went in a sat looking at children's books for a while. It was afternoon by this time and a set off on a little mission to find a tofu shop and a vegetable shop that had been recommended to me as apart from a italian restaurant there was no restaurants that didn't serve Hida beef. I found the tofu shop without much difficulty but the vegetable store's location eluded me. Instead I found a small supermarket and bought only vegetables that were purple ( an eggplant, red cabbage and red grape) and some noodles. It was only when I was putting them in my bag that I realised that all the fruit and veggies were all purple. I then walked along the river to another part of the town that had been preserved. There was an old building that was owned by a wealthy sake brewer and money lender that I paid to go into. The beam and column structure of the roof is just beautiful, I don't think the photos capture it well. The house was nicely designed the rooms were all pleasing and connected together in clever ways. The lady that sells the tickets had a great seance of humour and was telling me about the history of the building. After a very long and hot day I headed back to the hostel to sit on the couch and talk to the owner and her little boy. 

A little later I started to make dinner as most of the people in the hostel had gone out for dinner including the owners it was just me and the young lady that is working at the hostel for two months. I fried up the eggplant, cooked the noodles and miked it with the cabbage and served the tofu just by itself (it already had sesemee seeds in it). It was a real feast! As I was finishing dinner the owners and one of the guests who they had taken out for dinner came back and we sate around drinking sake.