Japan Killed Steak for Me

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Geo: 36.15, 137.24

Today was finally an easier day!

I needed the sleep but I couldn't get any more after about 730am. So, I.got up and dressed ahead of everyone and set out by myself to get breakfast and coffee. I found a bakery recommended by our Airbnb host- picked up some wheat bread that ended up being some kind of sourdough and a couple lattes for me and Chris. I tried to find butter for my bread and failed lol. Oh well. Bread was good by itself.

We checked out of our Airbnb at 915am and made our way to Takayama via four trains. For once, the travel was uneventful. 😊 The scenery was beautiful as we passed snow capped mountains, terraced hillsides, rivers and waterfalls.

Takayama is a small mountain town. We checked into Country Hotel and our tiny room. We were starving so we set out to find food. Which we found quickly in the form of a grill restaurant. I literally ate THE BEST BEEF OF MY ENTIRE LIFE. And now I hate Japan because it has ruined American beef for me. Lol. Chris, Billy and I grilled our food yakiniku ("grilled "😉 style. The others did two different types of shabu (meat and veggies cooked in broth).

After that we wandered the streets of Old Town Takayama for awhile. Most the shops were closing down already but we still managed to pick up souvenirs and more yummy mochi. I think I'm addicted to mochi now. Its so fresh here! We also walked by one of the many sake breweries, and it happened to still be open. So we did some free tastings, and Chris and I bought a glass of some amazing lemon sake.

It got dark and very cold very fast. So we headed back to the hotel for a little bit, and met up again around 8pm to find dinner. Which didn't go well. First, we tried a hamburger place that uses Hida A5 beef. But they'd run out of the Hida meat. Then we spent a long time trying to hunt down a Japanese tapas place. After finally finding it, they were reservations only. An hour later we found a curry place but they were closing and would only do take out. So we settled with that and ate in Mai and Michelle's hotel room.

Tomorrow we're taking a bus out to Shirakawa-go.

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