Day 12. 19th May 2016. Thursday.

The previous day, I had sent all of our luggage ahead of time to our Kanazawa Hotel, and I had deliberately booked a late train so we could have a leisurely breakfast and use the pool at the Sheraton . The pool is chargeable, separately, including for children, which I thought was strange for a hotel of the Sheraton's calibre, but we paid up and Zach and I had a lovely swim. There was no one else besides us so we had the entire pool to ourselves, up on the eight floor, with amazing views of downtown Hiroshima from the glass windows. Once he was tired with the pool, we tried the heated whirlpool, that was really hot but fun. We took a while to adjust to the heat but it was well worth it. Sitting in the whirlpool, chilling with Zach overlooking the city below us was pure bliss. Zach asked what else we had in store for today and I said not much because we had to catch two Shinkansen's via Osaka all the way over to Kanazawa. Then he said this is a very good day then, just swimming and riding trains. No islands and museums. He usually loves museums but I guess even he has limits, ha ha.

Finally, we got out, packed and made our way to the station which is like a two minute walk from the hotel, and boarded our Sakura Shinkansen bound for Osaka. Then we had to change trains and board the Thunderbird bound for Kanazawa. We had some time to spend at Osaka station so I took the boys to the restroom, browsed the shops spending a lot of time in the bookshop although they didn't have much in English (I just love bookshops) and then bought some snacks. I meant to buy a slice of some weird looking cake but something was lost in translation and I ended up with the whole cake . Zach bought tiny bite size green tea Oreos that were interesting. 

We got off at Kanazawa station, and then I went to check with the tourist information which direction we needed to walk to get to our hotel. I was told to take the east exit. The staff there were very friendly and asked us where we were from. I'm assuming they don't get too many Indians in Kanazawa. It's a little off the tourist trail. Anyway, the women were very friendly and warmly welcomed us and drew on the map where the hotel was. I actually took a picture of the bins to send to my whatsapp group because they were so damn clean. There were a lot of restaurants at the station so we went to get something to eat. Also, just at the entrance, were some kids doing some sort of performance that we stopped to watch for a while. And the fountain that spells Kanazawa and tells the time is amazing. Really don't know how that works. Then it was time to make our way to the hotel, which was a few minutes walk from the station. 

Check in was smooth, our suitcases were already here, and the room was lovely. The boys were at home immediately, and then didn't feel like going out and exploring any more. Godwin went down and walked around and took some night pictures as well as picked up some more food in case they got hungry. In the end, we ended up with too much food! There were vending machines at the lobby that the boys went and used, still their favourite thing to do here. and then it was time for bed. All in all, a pretty relaxing day. Tomorrow, we would explore the city in earnest. 

Coming up:  Gold leaf ice-cream, gardens and ninja temples! 
Steps walked: 5,116