Taking it easy in Takoyama

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Hi all, it is our last night in Takayama at the Guesthouse Tomaru. I just wanted to mention a couple of things about the last blog. First, I should have mentioned our great day in Nara with Shanes good friend Shingo and his lovely family. Nara was as cute as a button, with deer wandering all over and some lovely Edo period architecture. Shingo took us to lunch, which was fun and delicious and chaotic as he has a baby and a two-year-old. I posted a picture from the day. The second thing I have to mention is that I cannot get the apostrophe to work on this computer. So I am veering between what feels like ye olde Englishe to I-am-of-the-texting-generation-and-I-do-not-care-about-punctuation. Sorry about that.

I think I thought that Takayama might have been a bit of a Japanese Daylesford. It is, in a way. Lots of domestic toursists here for the lovely mountain scenery, the famed Hida beef, the crafty stuff that Michael loves (not) and the gentle attractions. Whatever, it has been fun. Highlights include

*hostel living. This is the kids (apostrophe) first time in a hostel. The great thing about being in a group of six, including four kids, is that when others realise you are here, they go out. But once the bunks were assigned the fights were over, they have settled into hostel life admirably. Michael and I are convinced, however, that we are too old for hosteling. For me, it was hearing someone ask if the food on the bench was free. It was ours, she would have been welcome to it, but I am over the free food scrounging. I have scrounged (oh wow, here is a half packet of pasta, mine all mine!) but I now find it unbecoming. But the hostel is lovely, and the couple running it have the most gorgeous baby.

*Onsen. We finally all got our kit off, scrubbed ourselves raw and hopped into various scalding pools with elderly people of our gender.It was fun, easier than showering in the hostel, and as it was on the 6th floor of a posh hotel outside town, it had the most amazing view from the various pools. Only Edith took a little convincing to get nude among strangers while Joni was surprisingly confident.

*market. There is a great market in town. Lots of crafty stuff but also great food. Amazing mushrooms of all sizess and textures, salad greens and veg of all sorts. We sat and had a coffee while the kids spent their yen. The river nearby was full of gorgeous carp to watch and feed.

*food. The food, generally, is great. God help me, nice to have a change from sushi (did I just write that?) We have been cooking for ourselves, the lovely beef and various kooky veg, delicious noodles...Also, snack food is fun. Big rice crackers, rice balls...Truman got himself an alcoholic cider from the vending machine, but stopped after asip or two. I was proud. Also, luscious ramen in little non-descript restaurants.

*Puppets. We saw some great mechanical puppets that the kids really loved. Think Myer windows, but charming.

*Cooking crackers. This was rather crazy. We paid our money, the kids got a quick lesson all in Japanese, then they put on gloves and grilled rice crackers in these little gas braziers. The crackers puffed like prawn crackers. A rather unusual activity, but no burns received!

* Strolling. It is a nice, relaxed strolling town. We did lots of miles, but it was pretty easy going.

We will try to blog again, but we are travelling to an island tomorrow and do not really know what we will find when we get there.

Hope you are all well, life is good here even without apostrophes.

The Schlechtas and a Fincke

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