Takayama, we love you!

I've been enjoying Kyoto immensely - Mark's been working very hard in the lab, putting together information for his new ebook, and I've been the tourist extraordinaire. I've taken a few pics, but not many really. I've realised there's a giant scratch on the lens of my iPhone, which makes the pictures really fuzzy (as you'll see below), and our other camera died at the most inopportune moment. Oh, well. I'll upload what I've got soon. 

I love the cabs here. The one that brought us from the airport had every surface covered in spotless white lace doilies. Can you imagine what a job it must be to keep the inside of a taxi clean?? The mind boggles.

I've been watching lots of sumo wrestling on TV in the evenings (in our hotel room, where it's air conditioned!). I've decided that many, many sumo wrestlers bear a striking resemblance to John Belushi. I've also learned that it's a sport loaded with ritual. There's lots of stuff they have to do: squat down, stand up, slap their own asses, throw salt around, squat down again, stand back up, throw more salt, slap their asses some more, then GO! I could watch it all day.

Anyway, we continue chronologically to Takayama. After a bit of toing and froing, we found our ryokan (with no help from the GPS). It was a lovely spot on the river, by far our favorite place in Japan so far...

Chillin' in the ryokan

The view of the river from our room

The other direction

Kampei!

A true feast

There's beef in there. And it's delicious!

This dinner requires a panorama view...

Moving from left to right...

The last shot

Wait! There's more!

Cribbage, ryokan style (that's sake, fyi)

 Takayama is such a beautiful, historic town. We walked and walked and walked, and saw many lovely places.

Takayama

I love these little gardens. They're outside many,  many houses.

Beautiful wooden houses (now shops)

Staying dry

 The hills above the town are filled with shrines and holy places. Mark had a great time.:)

Historic cemetery in the hills

I want my tombstone to acknowledge my love of unusual rocks

Serenity now!

I like this little guy.

Shrine

 But then it was time to head back into town for some sake tasting...

Sake brewery

Mark pointing out an interesting feature of the brewery. I'm not sure what, though.

 We also visited a beautiful historic home. Wish I could remember the name of it! The simplicity of the rooms is what struck me the most. Apparently, most rooms were deliberately unadorned - they could be used for any purpose, by changing the furniture. Put a futon in it, it's a bedroom. Put some floor cushions, it's a living space.

Living/sleeping/any purpose rooms

Fuzzy picture of the tea room

Beautiful beams 

You can spot a sake brewery by the bundle of cedar fronds hanging from the eaves of the building. When they're first hung, they're green, indicating a new batch is ready for tasting!

This is our street, and here's Mark outside the Sumiyoshi Ryokan.

Our street, looking the other way

It takes a village to get us into our yukatas!

Another beautiful dinner

That's it from Takayama! Next instalment, Kanazawa and beyond...