Ise and Ise-Shima

It's a public holiday in Japan tomorrow so we have all five gone away for the weekend.

We drove down to Ise on Friday, after everyone had finished work and school. We stayed in a Toyoko hotel near the station and had dinner at a Coco Ichi curry place. Then we went to a DonKi for supplies.

It was raining!

I wasn't expecting to find a Gideon's Bible in a Japanese hotel
There was also a book on the teachings of the Buddha
and a couple of books of Japanese meditations

Katsu curry for me

I would have loved to buy these DonPen gardening shoes

You can see the rain in this photo

Breakfast from the buffet

We went to an aquarium in the morning, to avoid the rain. I quite like aquariums but this one was a bit disconcerting. I wasn't particularly worried about the fish, but they also had otters and seals, walruses and dolphins, capybaras and sea lions. To y mind their enclosures were too small. I realise that in Australis the zoos have all significantly enlarged the animal enclosures so the creatures have room to roam. I also realise that the Japanese people often have significantly smaller spaces than Australian people. Even so, I was a bit discomfited by the space allocated to the larger animals.

Still, it kept us dry and there were some fun things to see

And now you find us in the Okushima National Park, at the Miyako resort. Austin, Kaori and Tatsuki are in a large twin room on the fourth floor. Lindsey and I are here:

And this is what we can see:

And If I look up from my typing table

Definitely a Room with a View

Breakfast and dinner are (included in the room rate) All You Can Eat buffets. At dinner you can have a 90 minute All You Can Drink for an extra $25 each. We might have done that last night!

Most of the dinner photos are from Austin's phone

It is very tempting to sit here all day and just watch the view. However, everyone else is off to a theme park and I might get a bit bored on my own all day, even with a spectacular view to admire. I had best get ready.

PS I'm not sure we have enough snacks to keep us going

And on Friday, 1st November, the Halloween decorations came down, and these appeared