We took the subway to Tokyo station which is the hub for the trains leaving for all over Japan. We had reserved our seats so quickly found them and settled in for the ride.
It wasn't long before the landscape became a lot less crowded...
Big rivers...
As we went through the smaller towns it seemed everyone had either small gardens near their homes or larger community type ones. The pictures are blurred somewhat as the train is going 300km/hr...
The second part of the trip we were on a slower train as we were going through the mountains and the scenery was beautiful especially the rivers...
Everywhere along the way there were dams and power plants and we later learned that a lot of villages were destroyed when these plants were built.
Takayama is a town located in a valley with a river running through it and surrounded by mountains...
The higher peaks in the distance are the Japan Alps and are still snow covered.
We are staying a little above the town in a guest house with a private room but shared facilities. It is very comfortable and sooo clean!
The evenings are still cool so at night the owner puts the wood stove on in the kitchen and it reminds us of home...
We went our to look for something to eat as they were no restaurants close and ended up at the Family Mart where we bought food to bring back to the guest house. Of course I had sushi and stuffed rice cakes which can have chicken, veggies or fish, they are delicious as well...
The next day and unfortunately our only full day here we walked 13 Kms as we explored the town from the top to the bottom starting with going further up the hill to a beautiful little village that has preserved the area's houses from the 1700 and 1800s.
All the houses had shrines inside...
And fires in the middle that were always kept going winter and summer...
There are shrines everywhere...
Beautiful views...
We then walked down the hill into the other part of town and passed so many people getting their gardens ready...
I like this picture of the mountains through the green of the gardens which are all so lovely here...
We passed this huge temple which towered over the houses...
By this time we needed a break so stopped in this cafe for drinks, we paid 500yen and then were shown this lounge on the second floor with a drink bar, hot or cold to serve yourself as much as we wanted. There were signs with rules everywhere...put your dirty cup here, use this cloth to clean off the table, but the weirdest one was a tv monitor that every minute would change with a different person holding a sign telling you how long you had been there! Maybe a hint not to overstay your welcome?
Takayama also has an historic district where the houses have been preserved and now most of them are upscale shops which are full of Japenese tourists. However the area is so clean and well cared for.
It is located across the river so there are a number of bridges to cross...
Some of the street scenes...
School girls enjoying the day...
Richshaw drivers...
Always a quiet place to sit...
A stroll by the river...
Beautiful trees...
Flowers...
A lot of the restaurants here serve Hida beef from black haired cattle which are raised in this area so we wanted to try it, but when we looked at the price it was way over our budget at over 50 dollars a meal, 27 for a Hida beef burger! We did however find a little shop run by a mother and daughter who sold a beer and a small roll for 11 dollars each. We really enjoyed the little taste and the owners were wonderful.
The daughter even gave us some origami presents...
We tried some samples of sake, very warm going down...
Miso soup is a very popular food here as they have it even at breakfast. The base is miso paste and we also got to sample some...
It was a great stop in a beautiful town and we so wished we had more time here as we would go further in in the mountains and I so wanted to try the onsen, the public baths in the hot springs. However our time is getting short so we need to move on...another train trip in the morning.
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