Gifu

Yesterday we went to the Gifu Castle park. Both the museum and the castle are closed for renovations but that didn't particularly bother us. There are lots of other things to see and do.

I am particularly enjoying the gentle but vibrant greens of the early summer leaves on the trees. Austin particularly enjoys the gradations of the colours of the mountains that surround the Gifu area. I do too but the gentle colours of late spring and early summer are a real pleasure.

I was nabbed by a lady from the Gifu City Council while I was wandering around the park. They are conducting surveys with international visitors. There are not a huge lot of international visitors in the Gifu Castle park. Or anywhere in Gifu, come to that. She was very surprised when I ticked the box that indicated that I have been to Gifu more than 5 times. I must surely have friends in Gifu? Ah. Family. Yes.

You can just see the castle
on the top of the hill

I was not expecting to find a pay phone
in the park

We had lunch in a nearby shopping mall and a wander around the shops.

Then we went to look at a shopping complex which had opened near Austin and Kori's place just before I was here last time. A bit like the Costco in Ardeer, it was so popular when it first opened that it was impossible to get into. But it's now been open for 3 months and the initial excitement has died down a bit.

We had dinner in Big Boy. It was Lindsey's first visit. I think she enjoyed it.

And thus ended our last full day in Gifu. We're here until this afternoon and then we're heading back to Osaka to start out journey home tomorrow evening.

Nagoya

Austin hired a car with five seat belts so we could all go out together. His car in fact has space for five people to sit but there are only four seatbelts so it is not lawful to take five people.

The hired car with five seatbelts is narrower than Austin's car!

Anyway. We all got in and Austin drove us to Nagoya where we met Kaori's father and brother in a Chinese restaurant. I didn't see Michinao when I was here in March. We didn't see Kazuma, Kaori's brother when we saw Michinao in 2024, so it had been quite a while since we had seen him. He usually works on Saturdays but had taken the day off so he could meet up. It was good to catch up.

Michinao has properly retired now. He plays the guitar (very well) and has joined a Seniors' guitar group. He seems fit and well.

Perhaps I should buy a new recorder and learn to play again. Jim bought me a recorder when we first got together, to replace one I left in Australia. But I didn't often play it and latterly had never played it. I don't have it any more.

(These are Austin's photos)

Kaori came back on the train. Her back was playing up and wasn't enjoying the hire car. I have some sympathy with her. My back is also sometimes grumpy and it's not fun.

We went to a tempura restaurant not far from their house for dinner. It was very delicious. But I fear I am going to have to go on a very strict diet when I get home. So Much Food! (Although my trousers still fit so maybe only a moderately strict diet will be required)

(These are also Austin's photos)

This is not an egg.
It's custard with a bitter caramel sauce

Sunset outside Austin's house

Supper back at home
So Much Food!

Today is our last full day with Austin, Kaori and Tatsuki. We have, of course, fortified ourselves with a Proper Breakfast, ready for the day ahead.

(PS - having complained about the number of steps I got on Friday, having walked all around Costco and Plant 6 - yesterday I didn't even crack 2000 steps. Must do better today!)

Crispy Bacon

Lindsey finally got her crispy bacon. Austin bought some and crisped it to within an inch of its life. We had it for breakfast yesterday. He also bought a carton of corn soup. We had that too

Crispy bacon and spinach

Thus fortified Austin, Lindsey and I ventured out to Costco. Kaori was at work. Tatsuki was at school. No leisure shopping for them. 

We had lunch at a Coco Ichi Curry House. I bought some boxes of their curry cubes. I think  I can take them back into Australia but I will definitely let the customs people make that decision.

We went to Plant 6 for a big supermarket shop.

We went to the fancy, fancy cake shop for supplies of fancy, fancy cakes.

We came home.

It was disappointing that after walking ALL around Costco and ALL around Plant 6 (which is not a small enterprise) I got less than 6000 steps and only 25 minutes of exercise all day. Lindsey did better, but she went for a morning walk before the shopping and then a late afternoon walk before dinner.  I did not.

Mostly Travelling

The station in Kurashiki is a mere 750 metres along a flat road from the hotel.  

So we walked. And took the train from there to Okayama, where we had tea and cake to fortify us for the rest of the journey.

We met Anpanman at the Okayama station

I had booked reserved Shinkansen tickets online on Wednesday and we had QR codes for the train. We had to get seat tickets from the gates, though. We also had to change trains in Kyoto and had separate QR codes for the two legs of the journey. The lady in the information centre at Okayama said we had to go out the gates in Kyoto and then come straight back in for the train to Gifu-Hashima.

In retrospect, we should have ignored this advice. The train left from the same platform. We had a 13 minute turn around. I sent Lindsey to go through and back while I watched the bags, then I was going to run through as well.

Lindsey completely vanished!!!!!

I got a message to say that it was very complicated. I couldn't quite see why. In the meantime, she was now on the other side of the gates and couldn't get back in. And I had all the bags.

Somehow, very slowly and with brute determination I managed to get all the bags to the platform gates. I swiped my QR code. On the second attempt it let me out.

I manoeuvred the bags through.

I could not find Lindsey. Lindsey could not find me.

Eventually we managed to reunite. I was at the gate where we had gone through on Tuesday. Lindsey had ended up at a completely different entrance. I'm not sure what had happened with her QR codes, except that her phone wanted to use her Suica card and not her QR code. The helpful station staff seemed to make matters worse.

We had comprehensively missed our train.

We booked new tickets for the next available train and contacted Austin who was planning to pick us up. We got on our train with no further problem. We were only an hour later than planned, which wasn't bad considering all the drama. And Austin was waiting for us, having spent the time in Plant 6 while we moved from Kyoto to Gifu.

I might not buy the tickets online in the future. We had plenty of time at the Okayama station and could have bought through tickets.

We went to the sushi place for dinner, with Kaori and Tatsuki. Much less traumatic.

Our friendly server

Kurashiki - Bikan

We had a lovely wander around the historic Bikan centre yesterday morning. We checked out the tourist shops and the local craft shops. We wandered the laneways and pottered around. We found a tourist Lawson (which is an omnipresent convenience store with a blue logo and does not usually contain local souvenirs). We had curry for lunch and then returned to the hotel to offload our purchases and to have a bit of a rest.

We ignored the rain, though we couldn't have a canal boat trip because they had been cancelled for the day because of "bad weather"

In the afternoon it had more or less stopped raining and  we visited Ohara House and the Honeiji Temple.

Then Lindsey went running up a hill to look at a shrine. 

I had no wish to be running up hills or steep stairs so I stayed at canal level and went for a mooch around.

When we were having dinner in the restaurant on Tuesday evening, we noticed gardens and buildings through the window. I went to see what they were, and found a lovely little Zen garden next to the Art Museum

I sat there of a while, in a small shelter, and enjoyed the peace and the water - and the fact that I was undercover from the rain, which had returned.

I notice that I have been particularly interested in the trees and water and gardens this visit. Perhaps my gardening mojo is belatedly making a reappearance.

I had better start getting organised. Today we are moving from Kurashiki to Austin's place. and we need to be out of here in 25 minutes!

Lindsey finally found some bacon that
hadn't been stewed.
And I had some corn soup.
Happiness all round

Moving On

We had a lovely morning yesterday, pottering around in the outlet centre and shopping mall across the road from our guest room. The sun was shining, the temperature was mid-20s. It was great weather for wandering around. We had lunch in a coffee shop and went for a potter in the little park beside the shops.

Then we packed, tidied up and got ready to leave. Lindsey bravely used the Japanese equivalent to Uber for the first time to summon a taxi to take us to our new hotel. It had the significant advantage that we could type the address in and summon the taxi without having to speak to anyone.

We said a friendly goodbye to our little room. It was so close to perfect in so many ways but the small imperfections rendered it impossible for us. My back and hip are still very grumpy. Even Lindsey struggled to get up from her futon mattress and the chair. I didn't even attempt the chair, although by the time we left I had found a way of getting up from the bed which more or less worked.

And this is where we are now - the hotel Kurashiki Kokusai in the historic Bikan area. 

We have beds, one each:

And chairs with legs, one each:

And a supplementary desk chair, which I am sitting on right now.

The hotel has interesting things dotted around it:

It also has a little cafe and a restaurant, and other things that we haven't explored yet.

We did explore our immediate neighbourhood, briefly:

We're going to explore more today, check out the shops, explore the laneways, maybe have a boat ride on the canal.

It is, of course, raining this morning ☔