Again and early start with own made breakfast in the room and then
wait for the car to come down out of the 24 car metal racking and then loading
and we departed the Hotel around 0815.
Shortly after leaving Kyoto Town centre we joined the Expressway back
towards Nagoya but shortly after leave the Kyoto area this put us on a
different expressway to the one we arrived on. The sun was shining in the driver’s
side of the car and shortly after leaving a brief stop was required to remove
sweaters which were not needed. The Expressway had less and less traffic on it
as we left the Nagoya area and headed North in the direction of the Japanese
Alp foothills. As we got nearer to the mountains the number of tunnels we
entered grew and grew and I guess we must have gone thought at least 50 or 60
tunnels of lengths from 250 metres up to 5 kilometres and it must have been
rather difficult to build.
We continued climbing and getting higher and higher and our ears began
to pop a little and then we started to see the first signs of snow left over
from winter. After a 5800 yen expressway toll we arrived in Takayama around 1pm
and went to a Yoshinoya rice and fried beef restaurant for lunch, all for the
cost of 1200 yen or about £ 6.50 for two. We found the Hotel ok which is at the
top of a hill overlooking the town and so we had a little rest and then used
the Hotel free transport down to the local station to join the crowds following
the festival.
We found the main square and we waited there for about one hour before
the parade started where groups of men pull huge decorated carts with mostly
children on board. The carts are completely decorated all over and must weight
several tons and are covered with drawings and a lot seem to have gold leaf on.
There were several thousand people watching this event and we walked for a damn
long way finding occasional places to rest our weary feet.
After what had seemed like a very filling lunch we started to feel a
little peckish but did not want another meal but started looking for a coffee
and cake place but the only places opened seemed to be restaurants until we
happened across the McCafe of McDonalds fame. Well we happened upon after
asking several policemen where it was.
Well we cheated and Noel had a fish burger meal and Jennifer the
chicken meal and then back to the station to connect with the free transport
back to the Hotel at 9pm. We were both quite tired as it had been a longish
drive and then loads of walking and waiting. But a good day..
