Nagoya

Another long full day probably my favourite to date. We began by driving from Matsumoto through the Japanese Alps to Takayama. The alpine road twisted and turned upwards through many tunnels some of them an extremely tight fit. The day was clear and sunny and the Alps  stunning. 

We walked around the old Edo period part of Takayama taking in the quaint buildings and had time to do some shopping. 

Lunch was set within a Sake shop. The large balls hanging over the door are made from Cyprus and indicate a sake brewery, when the balls turn brown the sake is ready for drinking. The large wrapped bales outside are large containers of sake which locals buy when celebrating or to offer at the temples. 

Lunch involved cooking your own food over a little burner but this time it was the local Hida wagu beef. Plus vegetables and salad etc. Absolutely delicious. 

Next up Yarai Kaisa to inspect the elaborately decorated floats used each year in the Takayama festival held twice yearly in Spring and Autumn. They are carried by many people through the streets.

A highlight so far was a wonderful visit to a UNESCO world Heritage area at Shirakawago a famous alpine village that was officially undiscovered until the 1950s. The village houses have steeply pitched, and extremely thick thatched roofs. These act as insulation and the shape means  the snow slides off easier. I really would have liked another hour to enjoy exploring further. 

We then had a long drive to our stop for the night at the Nagoya staying in the recently built Prince Hotel. Our room was on the 34th floor and had incredible views where Phil could watch the local and bullet trains arriving and departing. 

We had a hectic drop your bags in your room and run back down to make our restaurant booking in time. Being punctual is super important in Japanese culture. If you are 10 mins late your booking gets cancelled. This time it was a more simple seafood restaurant. And even though it was in the next tower block our group got lost. But we made it, the guide was a little stressed. We also said goodbye to our pink bus as the next day we are travelling by bullet train. So we spent what was left of the evening packing our little bags for next 2 nights while our large cases get sent ahead to Kyoto.