Castle and countryside

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The day we left Fuji – clear blue sky and the volcano reveals herself entirely, typical! We enjoyed the view as we headed to the station.

Matsumoto – the most lasting impact; the ridiculous jingle announcing the name of the town at the station. I wish I could sing it to you. Our reason for visiting the city was Matsumoto castle, one of the few originals remaining in Japan that has survived earthquakes, fire and war. We joined the retired Japanese daytrippers at the castle.

A very enthusiastic 78 year old man hurried out of the volunteer gazebo to be our guide. He was very knowledgeable and clearly a castle enthusiast. We spotted a piano concerto in his folder and discovered he had begun learning the piano at 50 and had been practsing this piece for 25 years! He had only started to learn English at 68 and had retired at 70!

His vocabulary was good, the main pronunciation difficulty was the letter 'L'. We thought he was trying to say roads when he meant lords. It all became a lot clearer once we had resolved this confusion. The castle was very attractive, surrounded by two moats (there were 3 moats originally!) with snow capped mountains in the distance.

After a disappointing lunch at a Soba noodle bar we set off for Tsumago, a village on the old postal road. The village consisted of preserved traditional wooden houses and shops. We found our ryokan (traditional inn) at the end of the street, we had a cozy tatami room with futons in the cupboard to make our bed. It all felt very authentic with the exception of the heated toilet seat with over 15 buttons! Ranging from a bidet to a sprinkler of varying temparatures and water pressures, not to forget your undercarriage blowdry after. After changing into our kimonos we went to dinner which was fantastic, including the crickets! See our photos.

We chatted to a couple from Australia who were experienced Japan travellers and were exploring off the beaten track. We ended the day with a walk along the lantern lit street and listening to the frog chorus in the paddy fields. I love the outdoors 😊

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