sanposhita.

Takayama is such a charming place. Rebecca and I woke to another overwhelming breakfast. I particularly enjoyed watching her face as she sampled umeboshi for the first time, although was unfortunately unable to capture it on film.

One of the very friendly women at the ryokan recommended we wander over to the nearby markets. The  morning markets are held next to a river, and almost exclusively sell locally made crafts or lovally grown fruits and vegetables. We bought some presents and knickknacks for friends at home and headed down to the river to say hello to the koi.

Most of the central area of Takayama is made up of stone-cobbled streets with traditional-style Japanese shop fronts selling various wares. We spent most of our day wandering, eventually returning to our ryokan to change into our yukatas.

And preparing for another feast.

The next day we had planned to hire bikes to explore more of Takayama, but decided to climb up to the park by foot instead. Too hot to face the descent, we searched for four leaf clovers instead.

My wish was the Bec would never go home, but I made the mistake of revealing my wish. Rookie error. We had one last cake together and said sad goodbyes. Overwhelmed by Rebecca’s good looks, Japanese people came up and asked to have photos with her, which were later posted on the café’s blog. Classic.

Although it was sad to say goodbye, I was so glad Bec was able to come and see some of Japan with me. I loved all the places we went together, and am excited to be travelling to Kyoto and Takayama again soon!

tōkyō : part two.

As usual, when I say “I will blog tomorrow” it invariably turns into the day after. Sorry. In any case, back to Tokyo!

The next day we rose bright and early to meet another school friend, Jess. She has been living just out of Tokyo, and has turned into somewhat of a guru. When we mentioned we were coming to Tokyo, she was kind enough to offer to take us around for the day! We met for brunch in Shibuya, and went to an amazing sushi place. Its Jess’ favourite, in part due to the head chef who is quite a performer. Since Jess has turned into a bit of a regular, we got the best seats in the house to watch our sushi being assembled in front of us. I really should have taken pictures, but… I was eating. Next time!

From the adjacent building there was a good view of Shibuya crossing, sat and people-watched for a while. There weren’t nearly as many people as there had been the previous night, but I felt compelled to take a photo anyway.

Despite good intentions to be obedient tourists, the day fast turned into a food crawl, broken up with wanderings, and occasional stops for shopping.

Jess took us to a great cake shop where I opted for some kind of banana, chocolate, hazelnut cream tart thing. Something about the slightly nautical colouring and the brightness of the space really made me feel as though I was just at a café at home chatting with the girls.

The afternoon was mostly spent shopping, during which I showed great restraint. We stopped for my first real coffee since being in Japan, which was blissful. Having sat chatting over coffee for a couple of hours we decided it was late enough for dinner.

Jess had a report to write, we said big thank yous and sad goodbyes. Thank you again, Jess!

Natalie, Georgie and I lazily made our way back, enjoying Tokyo at night.

Naturally, as it was my last night in Tokyo, we stayed up into the early hours chatting and giggling.  

The next day we headed over to Roppongi for Sunday brunch (although by the time we got there it was really lunch). The cuisine was my choice, and as Tokyo has more foreign food than Gifu, Italian it was!

In the afternoon, it was time for me to head back to Gifu. It was so hard saying goodbye to Natalie and Gina. I think I was somewhat ignorant to the extent to which I have been missing my friends in Australia. By some miracle I managed to tear myself away to get the train. In order to buy myself a little more time in Tokyo, I decided to splurge on the shinkansen on the way home.

My camera couldn’t keep up with the speed of the train.

At dusk, feeling a little sad and lonesome, I made it back to home, sweet Gifu.

I think perhaps on my first trip to Tokyo, I ticked very few of the ‘must-see, must-do’ boxes. That being said, I regret not a moment spent we spent chatting in cafes instead of playing tourist.  I will get to those things another time I am sure, but what I really loved about Tokyo was the different feel of each area. I cannot wait to go back, Tokyo has a new fan. Although, I do have a sneaking suspicion my enjoyment may have also been in part due to the company. Missing you.