It has only taken us 4 days to figure out how to open the door to our apartment. There is a key, the likes of which we have never seen before, and it is finicky. Very finicky. Though Don has now mastered the technique. As long as we don’t lose Don tomorrow in Siena, we should be okay.
All this before breakfast – check out the view to start our morning off in the best possible way.
Then it’s off to Panzano for a bit of wandering and exploring.
On our way up to the church at the top of the hill we happened upon an art exhibition in a beautiful garden. We even got to cast our votes for our favourite piece of art. Each of us chose a different one (of course).
On to the church, where we promptly got kicked out because mass was starting.
We headed back down to our car via the back lanes – with their magnificent views over the Tuscan countryside.
Don – friendly Canadian tour guide . . .
We actually did hit the Panzano Wine Festival, but weren’t ready to taste a bunch of wine. Just yet. . .
Had to check out the famous Butcher of Panzano – holding court as always.
Back to Greve for a trip to the grocery store for some healthy food for lunch and dinner at home today. We tried, we really did. Unfortunately the Co-op is closed on Sundays, and there is only one. Too bad – so sad.
Tina and Dave headed back to our place for a swim and a siesta, while Don and I (after parking the car back at home) headed to Enoteca Il Falorni, which is the most wonderful place where you can purchase a taste, a half glass or a whole glass of almost any wine you can imagine. Don was in heaven.
Of course, we needed some food to soak up all those little tasters.
So good. Such a lovely way to spend the afternoon. And just a few hours later, it was time for dinner!
Lemon risotto – mwah!!Tiramisu – double chef’s kiss
So anyhoo – those were today’s adventures. I can hardly wait to see what tomorrow brings!
We entered the breakfast room at Casale le Masse to a returning hero’s welcome. Big hugs from Stefania and a warm smile from her assistant, who makes the breakfast eggs and special coffees. These two ladies put on an amazing spread to start the day.
Then we were off on a little trek up the hill to the tiny village of Montefioralle. It is a really beautiful walk up there through vineyards and above the houses of Greve.
The first look is very inviting:
Montefioralle
Tiny circular lanes lead you deep into the village. We were there pretty early, so not too many other people around at all.
Wood carver at work
This fellow was working in his tiny gallery and he kindly allowed me to take his photo. It is definitely my favourite photo of the day.
Our walk back to our little apartmento is just a full on Tuscan experience. Check out this little villa across the valley from our place:
Back home Don sat by the window and just enjoyed being back where we love to be.
This the main piazza in Greve – with a statue of some famous guy.
Greve in Chianti main piazza
Then it was off to our favourite restaurant in the world, Il Ristoro di Lamole. I think we have been here five or six times now. We found it totally by accident on our first trip to Tuscany in 2009 and have been in love ever since.
Apparently all these amazing sculptures have been created by Boris, the waiter.
Ristoro di Lamole, high in the hills of Tuscany
The complimentary limoncello is a perfect end to the perfect meal. I told Fillipo that after experiencing it there for the first time, I have been making my own and it is almost as good. To which he replied, “I don’t think so, my Mamma makes this one!”. Well, I can’t compete with that, can I!?! Or the ripe Italian lemons. But it’s close . . .
Fillipo has served us every time we have come here – about 5 times since 2009
Here is the fruit we bought for breakfast in our apartment tomorrow.
Because our wifi was out for a couple of days due to a storm, you are getting a two-fer in this blog. Saturday morning we headed out for San Gimignano.
San Gimignano
With a stop for cappuccino – as you do.
Piccolo beers!Mandatory Gelato from #1 Gelato in the World (self proclaimed)Aerial View (not my photo!)
Back to Greve in time for dinner and a nightcap.
On our walk home down the country lanes, we saw a gaggle of wild boars. They were foraging in the vineyard and took off as soon as they heard us coming. That was exciting!!
It is a wonderful feeling when you want to cancel the day’s plans, and your travel companions were all thinking the same thing! So a unanimous decision was made to have a lazy day, a delicious nap and ready ourselves for our booked concert at 7:00 pm in an old chapel in Vernazza.
Don and I eventually wandered down to our village of Riomaggiore for a few last shots, a pizza, and some quality people watching time.
When we arrived back at our little apartment to find Lorenza waiting for us, with a bottle of Prosecco and some delicious aperitivos. We immediately cancelled dinner plans in favour of a sumptuous feast of savoury treats and bubbly.
Then it was time to get the train to Vernazza for our concert. There was a little confusion as to exactly where the concert was to be held. We knew it was behind the church, but that was a bit of a maze in itself. I saw a guy come out of a private gate and asked, in my best Italian, I said, “una demanda, dove sanctuario s.s. Trinita?” (a question, where is the” etc. And he replied, “I don’t know, that’s what I am looking for too!”. So we added one more to our parade.
We headed up to where we thought it should be, but that building was closed up tight and didn’t look promising. There were three young people standing nearby, so we asked them and they said that they were looking for the concert too. Maps were consulted. So we added three more to our parade.
Finally, a young man and woman climbed the stairs to where we were standing, the young man holding a big set of keys. Aha! “Concerto?” – “Si!”
He was the pianist and she was the vocalist and they were ready to perform.
Such a beautiful location and amazing acoustics. Even Don enjoyed his hour of opera.
We headed back to our place to pack up and get ready to leave early the next morning.
All went according to plan, and we even made our 5 minute train connection enroute to Florence. This lady had a small dog in her designer purse:
We got to the car rental place without incident, except that the clerk insisted that our reserved rental was for 4:00 and it was only 1:00, so we would have to wait 3 hours. The only alternative was to take a larger car and pay more for the daily rate, but I overruled Don on waiting and okayed the big car and a few extra bucks on the final tab.
Only one more toll booth between us and paradise:
We arrived at Casale le Masse and found our little apartment – it is a jewel!
We were all starving, having not had an opportunity for lunch, so we dropped our bags and headed down to the Greve town square for a bite to eat. So for your viewing pleasure, here is a little more Italian food porn – it was so good!
A quick stop at the wine store and we braved the elements to walk back up the hill to our little apartmento, where our super-considerate hostess had stocked our fridge with dessert for our travel day.
For the first time in many years, the walking trail that follows the cliff side from Riomaggiore to Manarola is open to the public. Closed due to a landslide since 2012 and restoration only completed this year, we had never walked this trail. So that was our main objective for today – walk the trail from Riomaggiore to Manarola, and explore the village of Manarola for the rest of the day.
We enjoyed the walk and headed into Manarola.
Tomatoes!!
At the top of the village is a wonderful church, and on one outside wall was the cross of the Knights Templar over a long forgotten entrance.
Time for an Aperol Spritz.
The crowds were oppressive, but Manarola was as picturesque as ever.
You can’t help but feel the romance when you’re here.
Down to the harbour and up to try to get in to one of the coolest restaurants in the Cinque Terre, the Nessun Dorma.
This s is the restaurant’s basil garden
Alas, it turned out that the restaurant was closed today and we had to go to plan B, which wouldn’t have been so bad if we hadn’t stood in the hot sun for fourth-five minutes , waiting for the final word about Nessun Dorma.. Which was “we are really closed”. This is the view
Plan B entailed getting a train back to Riomaggiore and having dinner at a cliff side place there, with almost as good a view, sans quaint buildings.
Our spirits restored, we headed home, with a small detour for gelato, and are all now enjoying some quiet time after the most glorious sunset. Tomorrow we take the ferry – the water gods willing – to Monterosso, say hi to the Gigante statue, have a swim, and later take in a concert in Vernazza. Should be a fun last day in the Cinque Terre.
So overnight the day we arrived the most terrific thunder and lightning storm rolled in and it was amazing. We were all up (hard to stay sleeping), watching the thunder gods do their thing in the most dramatic way. Delivering some much needed rain to this area. All in one go.
Needless to say, this was going to be an inside day for us four, and none of us minded a bit.
I had a warning from one of my Facebook pages about the storm and that here in the CT, they have learned from the past floods and now close down not only the trails, but also any stores that do not have a back entrance, which is most of them. In about 2012, Vernazza was decimated and lives were lost as massive amounts of water, mud and debris washed down the tiny street from top to bottom, with some shop owners being trapped and killed in their shops. So they take these weather warnings very seriously, as they should.
Forewarned, the night before we had armed ourselves with some meats, cheeses, tomatoes, burratas, and wine so that we would be able to hunker down happily.
Our homemade dinner
We played cards and listened to the rain until bedtime.
This morning, the sun was out and all was well with the world.
Mornings at Casa Lorenza always start with a cheery note under the door, announcing that breakfast had been left for us just outside our door.
Good Morning! I wish you a beautiful day . . .Riomaggiore harbour
Then it was off to Vernazza. We had planned to take the ferry, but due to continuing high winds, all ferries were cancelled today. No worries, the train is good too.
Down the narrow, winding road to the harbour – it is just as spectacular as we remember.
We stopped for a couple of must have shots and a quick drink (juice for three of us, beer for one – at 10:30 am!) and then headed up to the first 15 minutes of the hike between Vernazza and Monterosso for the money shot.
Here are a couple of wandering the back streets shots:
Time for lunch! We headed to the Cafe Luca, the closest place to the waterfront. The food and service were spectacular, and the crashing waves were over the top. Literally.
Our waiter’s name was Michael(eh), and when our order was easy, Dave remarked, “See, we’re easy!”, to which he replied, “I am too!”. Now we’re old friends.
Check out these meals:
This lasagne doesn’t look like much, but it was amazingPerfecto!
Yum, yum and yummer.
Before we left from home, there was one thing I really wanted to do, and that was to visit a wonderful little morning restaurant that we had found in upper Vernazza (where tourists rarely go), called Il Pirati. In 2007, when we were last there, it was owned by Sicilian twin brothers, one of whom was a pastry chef. At that time, I got this photo of one of the brothers and myself:
Today, I got a photo with the self-proclaimed “better looking brother” and presented him with a copy of the other one.
He was thrilled and the other employees crowded around to see him from the olden days. Then they served us the most magnificent dessert and iced coffees.
Get a napkin, because you are going to drool.
Cannoli with pistachio cream and panna cotta with fresh berriesHappy, happy campers
With full tummies and happy hearts, we all headed back to our little slice of heaven for some serious quiet time.
The only plan for the rest of the evening is to have a light supper at our place, drink some more wine, and a rematch on the gin rummy game. Oh yeah – and watch the sun go down over the Ligurian Sea (not the Adriatic – I stand corrected!).
Travel Day! Today we took the train from Florence (which station was conveniently just a ten minute walk around the corner) to Riomaggiore in the Cinque Terre.
We had one last go around (make that three for Dave) at the breakfast buffet. I thought it might be interesting to compare breakfast plates.
Then we said good-bye to our lovely Hotel Croce di Malta and set off, bright eyed and bushy tailed (as one usually does, in the beginning).
There were some train station shenanigans while we waited:
We saw the Carrera marble mountains as we whizzed by:
Unfortunately our train was a bit late arriving at our connection station and we found our travel mates, all of us wearing the same confused expression and wandering aimlessly looking for someone to ask which other train would stop at our tiny village of Riomaggiore (many don’t). Someone else managed to find a guy who looked like security. He knew which train and he spoke a bit of English, so of course I eavesdropped like the veteran traveller I am and lead my little crew and our luggage to the new platform to await the new train.
There was a very suspicious-looking guy just lounging against a waiting train, and even though it was 20 minutes before our train was due to leave, he was telling everyone that this was indeed the right train. I believed him . . . Thousands wouldn’t (as my Grandad used to say).
Turned out he was right, and it was indeed our train. So we all got to where we were going in the end.
Heaven.
Lorenza greeted us with smiles, hugs, beer and snacks – such a warm welcome every time.
Don is in his happy place:
After much needed siestas, we headed out for dinner, so back by request – a little Italian food porn:
So today’s plan was “no plan”. I do love those kinds of days. Our friends were off to an early start at the Uffizi Galleries, so Don and I took the opportunity to sleep in, enjoy a leisurely breakfast, and just wander around for most of the day. We checked out the train station for tomorrow’s journey and it is only an 11 minute walk from our hotel, which was a nice surprise. Then we headed towards our favourite piazza for people watching – the Piazza Della Signoria.
Got a cold beer for a hot day from this guy, and just enjoyed the passing parade.
Florence is very dog friendly, and we even saw three or four wiener dogs. There are lots of babies and toddlers here too – not really looking all that happy in the heat. Unless they are getting a ride on the merry go round – then it’s ok.
Here are a few photos from our wanderings:
As we headed back to our hotel for a swim and siesta, I spotted something shiny on the road just by the edge of the sidewalk. After looking around for a gypsy (we know the ring trick!) and seeing no other people around us, I picked it up and it turned out to be a Prada bracelet. Then I really did look around, to see if there were any expensive looking women near by – but there was no one at all. This is a pretty terrible photo of it, but it’s really cool and I guess it’s mine now, until the magnetic clasp fails again and it gets a new owner.
Lucky me! We immediately googled it and a used one is going for almost $400.
We had a reservation for 7:00, so the four of us headed out again and managed to see this Korean couple having a photoshoot in full traditional dress:
And the lighting was just right for a couple of old couples to get a romantic portrait too.
One last pick of the carousel and it’s off to enjoy one last drink on our rooftop terrace. Arrivederci Florence – we will undoubtedly meet again.
Part of the fun of travel is finding treasures and beautiful things along the way – you know – how life happens when you are making a “plan”? Today the plan was to walk up to the Piazzale Michelangelo, shaking off the cobwebs and taking in the amazing view of Florence from high atop a hill. Don and I have walked up there several times before, but never in this heat. (31 degrees +).
Anyway, we were ambitious (in the beginning), but also making lots of peekaboo stops along the way, just to check out the things we were seeing.
So many beautiful sights along the way.
Basilica di San Trinita
The clothes in the windows are to die for. If only we had a ball to attend . . .
Our travel partners in crime for the next two weeks, Tina and Dave
Finally we make it to the Ponte Vecchio – gotta get the money shot!
Also saw some beautiful politzia guys
We still have to get across the Ponte Vecchio, which is like running the gauntlet for any jewelry lover, whether you are in the market or not. Needless to say, it took a while to get to the other side.
Though completely bored with our window shopping, Don managed to find a wine store and got to tell Tina all about whatever was in the window.
Having managed to tear ourselves away from the wine and the jewelry, we all decided we needed a break before tackling the hill up to the Piazzale. Our first Aperol spritzes! And a little box of nibbles at Signorvino’s on the altrarno (other side of the Arno River).
After which we all agreed that we didn’t want to walk up the hill to the top and took a taxi that was conveniently parked right outside the restaurant! Yay!
There is a church called San Miniato al Monte (“on the hill”) above the Piazzale, and we got dropped off there. It is a gorgeous church, surrounded by a wondrously huge cemetery. The church was closed for lunch by then (as they do), but we really enjoyed checking out the amazing statutes and crypts. Here are a few pics from that – I think maybe we should go back to these amazing monuments for the people we love. I want a giant angel with wings on mine (David, Cam please take note . . .).
Iconic shot of Florence from the Piazzale Michelangelo
The walk down the hill, through rose gardens and past a still-standing portion of the original wall that surrounded Florence, was thoroughly enjoyable.
After a siesta and dinner at a place recommended by Tina and Dave’s cab driver from the airport – which could have gone either way, but was actually really good food – we retired to our rooftop lounge for a nightcap.
Tina and I noticed this amazing little place with its lit balcony – this could definitely be our home away from home (ideally for a few months) the next time we come to Florence.
Today’s objective is to make our timed entry to the Accademia to see the original statue of David (and other things). If you would like to see this museum, you should book your tickets online as soon as you know you will be in Florence. I was unable to book just the entry tickets, so we ended up booking a skip the line tour on Viator. We usually just wing this kind of thing, but it was actually nice to have guide to tell us all about what we were looking at. There are some other cool things in here, such as the unfinished sculptures of Michelangelo, that are still “prisoners” in their blocks of marble, but of course, the start of the show is David himself.
There are also some amazing paintings in the exhibit.
The Accademia was not as crowded as we had expected, but even at that early hour, the temperature inside was starting to rise and the humidity outside was making its way in with all the damp bodies. Did I mention that the skies opened? And yes, we did have umbrellas – lucky us. Everyone else outside was huddling under even the slimmest of overhangs to wait out each deluge.
Next stop, and virtually around the corner, was the Santissima Annunziata. Another spot Don and I had never visited. It is huge inside, super ornate, and really quite mind-boggling.
Then there is this guy – is it just me, or does he look like he is having a jolly good old time?
Then it was on to the Cappelle Medici – we were on a roll, and this was a trifecta of things we had never seen before. The photo above and the ones below are from there.
In our quest to find a washroom, we headed into the Rincente department store. Super high end but this display caught my eye. I think this might need a rebrand for the English speaking market – check out the labels:
And all of the above adventures before lunch!
We are now having a long siesta/downtime, before heading out for a fashionably late dinner (7:30 – what!?!).
Tina asked if there was spinach in the lasagne and the waiter gasped and clutched his chest crying, “No! Please madame, No!!!”
Beautiful Florence!! I’m just going to start with that, because I do like to do these blogs chronologically, and chronologically, there is some complaining (not ‘splaining’) that I need to get out of the way. Just a little.
We might be getting too old for these long travel days.
There – I said it. Though the alternative is probably not anything we want to do, ie getting ourselves across Canada and then possibly a week of enforced cruising across the Pacific. Already that sounds like something we don’t want to do, but we would probably arrive refreshed, at least in London. Which is close to everything else we could want to get to. So – maybe that’s the answer. With the size of airplane seats these days and the 2 square feet of personal space, even shorties like me are feeling claustrophobic. And no Swiss Air, chopping the tray in half and making it fold over into itself for storage is not helping. As a matter of fact, it screwed up Amazon Gadget Number 1, which was a cool tray cover with its own storage pockets (so you don’t have to reach inside the gross ones that everyone else has put their dirty Kleenexes into). Doesn’t work with the magical folding trays if you ever want to have the tray in the closed position. Amazon gadget fail #1.
There might be a few of those over the course of this trip. Fail #2 (which is actually #1 I guess, is my handy dandy portable toilet. Yes. It is a thing. However, even though it folds up to a flat 2 lb in its own carry bag, not really doable when one is determined to only take carry on luggage. Which the Swiss Air website determines to be 8 kg/18 lb., and that should be the combined weight of your carry on suitcase and your one personal item. So we worked hard to get our contents down to the bare bones (without the handy dandy carry on toilet) and made it to between 9 and 10 kg. Don needn’t have worried so much about it though, since we were directed straight to the security line, no need to check in at a desk. No one ever even looked sidewise at our over weight carry on suitcases or over stuffed personal items. So that was a nice surprise.
Don’s complaint was that they charged us for wine on the international flight. He thinks that should be against the rules. Though they wisely charged us in Swiss Francs, so we have absolutely no idea how much our drinks were.
By the time we arrived in Florence, we were both wondering what we were thinking and our stomachs hurt from lack of sleep and movement. All of which was cured by a dip in the pool.
We asked for pool towels as we checked in – no, we don’t want to wait until we come back down – we’ll take them now thank you.
So we cooled off, had a spritz, and checked periodically at the reception area to see if Tina and Dave had arrived. Second time lucky, and there they were! We had all made it – and we are ready for our first once in a lifetime Italy adventure with our dear friends from California.
Once we had all cooled down and had the tiniest of siestas, we headed for a walk to the duomo and took in all the beauty that Florence has to offer along the way (to anywhere). Towards the back of the Duomo there was a guy playing so beautifully on his violin that we took a table across from him and ordered a couple of pizzas and a bottle of red wine. I took the all time cutest video of the four of us with the violin playing in the background. Unfortunately, I didn’t press record when I thought I did, but it was a wonderful moment that we will always remember.
Heading home Dave wanted to have a gelato experience and so of course we all joined him. And the first one did not disappoint – here are a bunch of happy, sticky faced gelato-eaters.
A good night’s sleep is what we all need, so we can drop the exhaustion, the travel concerns, the stress, and start living la doce vita, here in beautiful Florence.
Oh – and a quick trip to the rooftop deck – that was amazing too – complete with lightning in the distance. A portent of things to come? Who knows!
So, the previous “here we go again” post was linked to the wrong blog site (that one is full!). I have finally pulled out enough hair to get back to this one, which is the right one, and which has enough free space to keep the Japan trip photos and blog (if you haven’t already read those), as well as add new and scintillating material from this upcoming trip to Italy. Sorry folks! Thank you for all the encouraging comments – there are more of you following than I thought!
As a reward for your patience and perseverance, here’s a photo of Kaiden having his first homemade chocolate chip cookie.
Well, here we are, at the end of our trip. At the beginning, it seemed like we would be here forever, but now – in hindsight – the time has flown by. Ayami asked me where was our favourite place in Japan and the answer actually was that each place had a “best” aspect to it.
Tokyo, obviously, for the wedding, but also for the cute district that surrounded our hotel. We loved wandering around there and watching the kimonoed women and other characters wander by. Kyoto was special because we travelled there and stayed as a family in our little rice paper house all together. We watched sumo on the t.v., Cam made us breakfast every day, Ayami made us many dinners, and we shared so many stories and so much laughter. Kobe was a good stop because of the onsen in the hotel, but also our day at the Arima Grand Hotel onsens. And memorable because of the flat tire debacle, which has since been resolved with us driving on the spare for the rest of our trip and the company apologizing for the inconvenience and not charging for the ruined tire. Then last night at the dinosaur robot hotel with Jenn and Cam – that was a unique and entertaining check-in experience! So, all in all, a wonderful and heartwarming family trip, with the highlight of highlights – David and Ayami’s wedding.
Enroute back to Tokyo, we stopped in at the Fushimi Inari red tori gates. I had seen photos of these in my trip planning, but we hadn’t managed to get there while we were staying in Tokyo. The one day we were close, we all drank too much sake and forgot all about it. Anyway, they did not disappoint.
From Fushimi, we headed to where we needed to drop the car off – Ayami dropped the rest of us and our luggage near a restaurant and went to drop the car off. She returned to the restaurant with the good news that we were not going to be charged for the ruined tire after all. So we had a good lunch, then boarded the bullet train headed back to Tokyo.
We kind of snuck on the fast train (there are non-fast bullet trains that stop at every stop) – even though the return tickets we had bought in advance were for the slow bullet train. This is how we know Ayami is one of us – it was her idea! And saved us over an hour of travel time, which we truly appreciate at this point in our travels.
We had to get off at the stop before they did, so we said our good-byes on the train and hopped off on our own to find a taxi to our hotel near Haneda airport. Jenn and Cam picked this one – the Henn Na – a dinosaur robot hotel. Sure, why not?
Cam and Jenn weren’t too far behind us (they had come from a different starting point after visiting Hiroshima, the Kawasaki Museum and Universal Studios Japan) and their room was just down the hall. We headed out to find dinner that wasn’t from 7-11, but none of us wanted to venture far, so ended up with fried chicken, which is a bit hit here in Japan. Good enough. Hit up the 7-11 for some drinks and had “cocktails” in our room. In our matching (supplied) pajama shirts.
Right now I am enjoying a glass of red wine in the departure area, while our plane is being cleaned and restocked for our flight in about half an hour. It has been amazing, but we are looking forward to our own beds tonight.
Our second to last stop was a two night stay right in the middle of Nara National Park. We are staying in a (very) budget friendly hostel/hotel called The Deer Inn. It is very cute – in a hostely sort of way – and there are deer everywhere. Hence the name.
David figured out how to make the deer bow.
That last photo shows the communal kitchen, stocked with “emergency” ramen.
These are the communal washrooms – complete with toilet shoes. If you see them there, you know no one is in the toilet. You change your slippers for toilet shoes to go in.
Well, that’s me told.
While Ayami took a very well deserved nap, the rest of us went to check out the largest bronze Buddha in Japan. It did not disappoint.
Due to covid, you are no longer allowed to kiss any of this guy’s body parts for healing prayers. Whew.
Did I mention there are deer everywhere? You can buy special deer crackers to feed them and they an be very persuasive if they know you have them.
After dinner we walked to the temple where the light the lanterns at night.
This morning David and Ayami left bright and early to join Cam and Jenn at Universal Studios Japan in Osaka. That left Don and me to our own devices. We had a list of the shrines and temples in Nara, as well as a walk in the older area of town, and a place in mind for lunch. Don took his turn at asking the deer to bow, but he pretty much did all the bowing.
There are a lot of temples and shrines – but this next one had a special room with flickering lanterns that was pretty amazing.
These amazing trees are all around.
With all the templing, it was time for a snack. I had read about the hand pounded strawberry mochis here, so had to try one. Don chose a cracker thing instead.
PS – the mochi was delicious!!
So, we are templed and shrined out pretty much. Ready to get back on the bullet train tomorrow and stay our last night near Haneda Airport. It has been a wonderful trip, full of special moments, lots of laughs, a few puzzlements, and a new-found confidence that anything is possible, even if you don’t speak or read the language.
But after a couple nights in this cute hostel, Castle Currie is looking pretty damn fine . . .
Putting the previous day behind us, we headed for the famous Himeji Castle. It was glorious in the beautiful sunshine.
The castle complex is massive – and there are stairs inside to go to the top of that building behind us. I found a bench on the fifth floor and read the information brochure while the rest hiked to the tippy top. Once difference between these castles and ones we have encountered in Europe is that the rooms are all empty. So far, in the ones we have been able to go in, there have been very few displays, no decorative art, or furniture. So that’s a lot of walking when the money shot is on from the outside!
As we were leaving, walking along the sidewalk, I looked up to see a camera pointed right at me. I leaned and stepped to my left to get out of the way of whatever the photographer was trying to photograph behind me, only to discover that he was trying to take a photo of me!! He looked up from his camera and gave me a big smile and a thumbs up. I can’t imagine my expression on my face, as I was trying to dive out of the way, but ok . . .
Have I mentioned the important role that the 7-11 plays over here? They are everywhere, together with their sister stores, Lawton’s, and contain everything you could want, at good prices. The hot food includes curry potato croquettes, spring rolls, baked sweet potatoes and a bunch of other exotic items (not a hot dog on a rotisserie in sight). There are also bento boxes, take and heat items of all sorts, and fresh sandwiches. The egg salad is to die for, having been made with Japanese mayo, on good old fashioned white bread, with the crusts cut off. Just like Mom used to make. So good. And booze! Seems like most countries can be trusted to have booze in their corner stores – take note Canadian government!!
This particular area is apparently known for their squid balls (takoyaki), so Ayami got some of those and David was feeding her the squid parts out of his while she was driving.
One thing about travelling with your kids is that there are different budgets to consider. This evening, our dinner cost about $9 for both of us, plus the less cheap bottle of red wine. Definitely a budget booster! Tomorrow we feast!!
There was one shop close to our hotel that I had to go in. They sell these celebration dolls. I asked if it was ok to take photos and he said yes, but please don’t touch! They are all hand painted and painstakingly made – priced in the thousands of dollars.
Then it was goodbye Kobe, and on to Nara National Park. The tire is still holding out – so far so good. Ayami makes sure we eat, even from the driver’s seat. The gyoza like delicacies are also from 7-11.
Last morning in our cute little 100 year old house made of rice paper – Cam made us all breakfast and we all were packed up and ready to go. Jenn and Cam were going their own way for next four nights, riding the rails with their JR train passes, and the rest of us were renting a car for that time. Our last night in Japan we meet up again at the Hotel Henn Na near Haneda Airport – couldn’t leave Japan without a dinosaur robot hotel experience!
This is our little car for the next four days – Ayami got us a great deal and is our driver, because David forgot his license in Tokyo.
First stop was the little onsen town of Arima. The natural hot springs here, and the little village surrounding them, are some of the oldest in Japan. There are two types, “golden” (or red) and “silver”. Each pool is a different colour of water and they have their own restorative properties. After doing a little research online, David found that we could get a day pass at a swanky hotel that had many pools on both sides of the building (one side being for girls and one for guys). For $42 each, you could spend all day in the hot springs and surrounding relaxation areas AND got a $20 credit towards a delicious lunch (basically the whole cost, including beer). We’re in!!! Only catch is that this will be Don’s and my first naked onsen experience (no option on that). Sure, why not?
The parking lot was filled with expensive cars, including this showy Lamborghini
Lunch was some of the best tempura yet!
This is a photo of one of the onsen pools in the ladies’ area from the brochures, no cameras allowed (thankfully!).
One of the pools – this one I think, was open to the outdoors and I sat at the edge and let the little rain drops sprinkle down on my head – it was truly lovely.
No a bit about the “being naked” thing (because I know some of you are wondering). It’s really not that bad. Think walking between the shower and your locker in any pool changing or locker room. You have a little towel that you can hold in front of you as you walk or sit on the edge, but by the end, I wasn’t worrying about it. It may just be the stage of life I am at, but I realized that I didn’t really care and neither did anyone else. No one is openly “looking” at you and we all have more or less the same bits anyway, so I think we have over-thought this one by quite a lot. The Japanese have it right. And as a way to ease into it, the golden pools are virtually opaque, so when you sit down, you don’t feel so exposed.
So after a lovely and relaxing couple of hours, we piled back into our little car and headed for Kobe. Less than five minutes down the road we all noticed a weird noise and vibration.
And that’s when our day went south (not literally) . . . apparently we had a flat tire. No problem, the Currie men are on it. Get the spare out, an the jack . . . Wait, where’s the jack?
No jack. Really. We all looked.
There was a worker nearby on a big rig so Ayami spoke to him. He came to have a look, but alas, had no car jack. He said some guys were coming, and maybe they could help, so we waited a bit more while Ayami contacted the car rental company and then their insurance company. But flat tires are apparently not their problem.
So the three new guys arrive, with a tire jack – Yay!. Alas and alack, none of their things to remove the lug nuts were the right size (who knew there were different sizes). More head scratching, before decided that there was nothing they could do and so they all drove off.
By this time, the triple A equivalent was on his way. The rental company kindly agreed to pay at least to get the spare on, because there had been no jack. Unfortunately this particular rental company has no affiliates here in Kobe. When the guy got there with the right tools, the spare was on in no time.
So at least we could limp to our hotel in Kobe. Needless to say, all of this took hours and the rest of the day (evening) was pretty much a write off as Ayami phoned around and even got a guy to come out at 9:40 to assess the tire – all to no avail. That guy wanted $300 to fix it! The next morning they took it to a garage nearby, where they were told that the tire is a write off, but it should be ok to drive on the spare for the three more days we have left, as long a we took it slow and didn’t go on the speedy toll roads.
So that’s what we’re going to do – cross your fingers for us everybody!
Good night from Kobe, where our hotel has it’s own onsens, free ramen after 9:30 pm and – most importantly – free ice cream after 3:30 pm!! We feel a little better now . . .
Last morning in our cute little 100 year old house made of rice paper – Cam made us all breakfast and we all were packed up and ready to go. Jenn and Cam were going their own way for next four nights, riding the rails with their JR train passes, and the rest of us were renting a car for that time. Our last night in Japan we meet up again at the Hotel Henn Na near Haneda Airport – couldn’t leave Japan without a dinosaur robot hotel experience!
This is our little car for the next four days – Ayami got us a great deal and is our driver, because David forgot his license in Tokyo.
First stop was the little onsen town of Arima. The natural hot springs here, and the little village surrounding them, are some of the oldest in Japan. There are two types, “golden” (or red) and “silver”. Each pool is a different colour of water and they have their own restorative properties. After doing a little research online, David found that we could get a day pass at a swanky hotel that had many pools on both sides of the building (one side being for girls and one for guys). For $42 each, you could spend all day in the hot springs and surrounding relaxation areas AND got a $20 credit towards a delicious lunch (basically the whole cost, including beer). We’re in!!! Only catch is that this will be Don’s and my first naked onsen experience (no option on that). Sure, why not?
The parking lot was filled with expensive cars, including this showy Lamborghini
Lunch was some of the best tempura yet!
This is a photo of one of the onsen pools in the ladies’ area from the brochures, no cameras allowed (thankfully!).
One of the pools – this one I think, was open to the outdoors and I sat at the edge and let the little rain drops sprinkle down on my head – it was truly lovely.
No a bit about the “being naked” thing (because I know some of you are wondering). It’s really not that bad. Think walking between the shower and your locker in any pool changing or locker room. You have a little towel that you can hold in front of you as you walk or sit on the edge, but by the end, I wasn’t worrying about it. It may just be the stage of life I am at, but I realized that I didn’t really care and neither did anyone else. No one is openly “looking” at you and we all have more or less the same bits anyway, so I think we have over-thought this one by quite a lot. The Japanese have it right. And as a way to ease into it, the golden pools are virtually opaque, so when you sit down, you don’t feel so exposed.
So after a lovely and relaxing couple of hours, we piled back into our little car and headed for Kobe. Less than five minutes down the road we all noticed a weird noise and vibration.
And that’s when our day went south (not literally) . . . apparently we had a flat tire. No problem, the Currie men are on it. Get the spare out, an the jack . . . Wait, where’s the jack?
No jack. Really. We all looked.
There was a worker nearby on a big rig so Ayami spoke to him. He came to have a look, but alas, had no car jack. He said some guys were coming, and maybe they could help, so we waited a bit more while Ayami contacted the car rental company and then their insurance company. But flat tires are apparently not their problem.
So the three new guys arrive, with a tire jack – Yay!. Alas and alack, none of their things to remove the lug nuts were the right size (who knew there were different sizes). More head scratching, before decided that there was nothing they could do and so they all drove off.
By this time, the triple A equivalent was on his way. The rental company kindly agreed to pay at least to get the spare on, because there had been no jack. Unfortunately this particular rental company has no affiliates here in Kobe. When the guy got there with the right tools, the spare was on in no time.
So at least we could limp to our hotel in Kobe. Needless to say, all of this took hours and the rest of the day (evening) was pretty much a write off as Ayami phoned around and even got a guy to come out at 9:40 to assess the tire – all to no avail. That guy wanted $300 to fix it! The next morning they took it to a garage nearby, where they were told that the tire is a write off, but it should be ok to drive on the spare for the three more days we have left, as long a we took it slow and didn’t go on the speedy toll roads.
So that’s what we’re going to do – cross your fingers for us everybody!
Good night from Kobe, where our hotel has it’s own onsens, free ramen after 9:30 pm and – most importantly – free ice cream after 3:30 pm!! We feel a little better now . . .
So today was a shopping day for Don and me because the kids all went to Osaka to attend the Sumo Festival. We walked one way (straight shot) but were determined to brave the bus system for the journey home.
Don was very patient while I walked through all the little shops . He was rewarded periodically with street food skewers and ice cream for along the way.
Apparently I am an angel, not a geisha . . .
This next gallery of photos is from the Gion area. Everything is closed up tight during the day here, so it probably looks even more amazing at night.
I found one little artisan watchmaker shop that was open and chose a watch with a sakura face and custom band made for me while I waited. I love it!!
These are the rest of the photos, taken as we did a four square tour of the shopping streets in Higashiyama.
Don’s mask continues to be a source of great hilarity – this guy asked if he could take a photo with Don.
So that’s about it for photos from yesterday. The bus journey went really well, we found our stop, waited for the No. 12, got seats (a rarity), enlightened another couple about how you pay on the way out, not on the way in, and got off at the right stop! Yippee!! Feeling quite proud of ourselves, I must say.
The kids had a blast at the sumo festival – cheering for certain wrestlers and even coming home with a trading card of their favourite guy. Here is a short video and a few of their photos:
Tomorrow morning we split into two groups, with Cam and Jenn heading out on their own to Himeji and Hiroshima, and the rest of us renting a car for a trip to an onsen (hot springs) town, Kobe, and Nara National Park. We will meet up for the last night at a dinosaur hotel in Haneda before heading back home on Sunday. What a trip this has been and the adventure isn’t over!