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

 

Thursday

 Let's go for a quick walk around Austin and Kaori's place

It's a nice little area. Small rice paddies dotted around newer houses with some older houses here and there. A short walk away there are shops, a gym, cafes, convenience stores, and there's a little river at the end of the street. It's a short drive into the Gifu city centre and not far into Mizuho. You can see mountains all around and there are some pretty spectacular sunsets.

You really couldn't ask for much more

While I was taking you on a short walk, Lindsey went for a long walk up to a little park where there were men fishing in the pond and then on to a big electronics store

Lindsey's photo of the park

We are all heading off for a weekend away later today so after Austin came home from work he did some washing, then he, Lindsey and I went to the laundromat to get it all dry. While we were waiting for the washing to dry, we went into a homeware store, where we found a robot sweeping the floors

I wonder how it would cope with all the cat
hair at my place.
I do not have to wonder
what the cats would think about it!!!

It was Halloween yesterday, which is not something that I pay much attention to. I did notice that although the shops are decorated with Halloween things, the outside of the houses are not. I do not know if the children go out trick or treating, although no children came knocking at Austin and Kaori's front door.  (Update: there is no trick or treating in Japan - it is not polite to knock on strangers' doors and demand treats.) 

Tatsuki did a mini version by knocking at the door of the tatami room a few times, from where his father gave him Halloween lollies

We had chocolates too, but not Halloween themed ones:

These were not all for me!