Takayama

The forecast for yesterday was rain. How much rain depended on which forecast you looked at.  Some had large, open umbrellas. Others had smaller umbrellas. We went out, prepared for rain of some sort.

Our accommodation had provided breakfast vouchers for a cafe in the morning market. You could have a Japanese style breakfast with miso soup, rice, vegetables, salads and green tea, or a Western style breakfast with toast, fruit, salad and coffee. Lindsey went Japanese, Wendy and I went Western. It was delicious and quite filling. We don't have any more vouchers but it was only ¥500 per person so we will go there again today.

We mooched around the old part of Takayama, looking at the shops and the other tourists

And then we took a bus up to Hido no Sato, a Folk Village museum up in the hills, much like Sovereign Hill or Beamish (although not as busy nor, come to that, as expensive!). And that was where we got the rain.  Lindsey has been once before when it absolutely bucketed down.  We just had moderate rain and not too much of it, so it didn't stop us.

And we finally got the autumn colours. I think that the autumn colours are much like the cherry blossom season. If you time your trip specifically so that you can see the sakura, or the autumn trees you are likely to be disappointed. They are a gift that is given to the traveller, not something that you can assume will be available when you arrive.  We were too early in Kyoto and Gifu but up in the mountains, which is where Takayama is, it is noticeably colder and autumn is more advanced. And we were gifted the autumn colours

Breakfast time and then we are off to Tokyo for the last leg of our Japanese trip.