Matsumoto

Our two nights in Matsumoto were incredible.

The first night we had the run of the ryokan, because we were the only guests there. We were given exclusive use of the hot spring, our room was made up for us and our hosts were very generous and helpful.

The ryokan itself was described as a 'new' structure. Whether that meant built within 50 years or 200 years, I'm not certain. The style of building it emulated was from the 1600's, built with modern materials and traditional methods. There you have it.

There were various decorations around the inn from all periods of history. Marvellous tapestries, delicate ceramic bowls and cups, antique kami masks. The entire in had a wonderful character.

We didn't arrive to the inn until around sunset. The ryokan lady was going to carry our bags to our room but I took one look at the tiny lady, one look at the bags I'd been hauling, and felt an immediate twinge of guilt at being responsible for her death. It took some doing, but we convinced her to let us schlepp our own gear.

Our second day in Matsumoto was for sightseeing. We had warm, sunny weather to wander the town and we made the most of it. We hitched the bus back into town and spent around seven hours wandering the streets. We saw the castle and park, the art museum, a cool german liquor store, the time-piece museum (totally steampunk!) and a french tour guide that insisted on helping. We also took in lots of interesting buildings and shrines and temples along the way.

That night we had a traditional ryokan dinner served in our room. It was interesting. Some parts were fantastic, others required some suspension of disbelief. I'm particularly pleased I figured out how to eat prawn sashimi. It helped that the prawn was still so fresh and in one complete piece, he was able to offer guidance on how best to consume him.

This morning we hopped a train to Nagano city, only to be told by the tour guides there that the Olympics were being held in a different city this year. Who knew?