Day 16. 23rd May 2016. Monday.

The first thing we did was get ready and make our way to breakfast where the lovely Yuki was waiting for us . It was cool to fry our own eggs on these tiny stoves in front of each place setting. We gave her a little gift that we had brought from home as the Japanese do not encourage tipping and she was very grateful. 

Then it was time to pack up and leave onto the next destination. Check out was a breeze and I had a nice chat with the manager while he finished with the paperwork. He said he had been to India, Kerala to be precise but not to Goa. They served us some drinks in the lobby before the bellboy came to whisk our luggage away to the parking lot. Then it was time to put on our shoes and get to the car parking area which was just across the road. I was the last to get there with the boys and when I got to the car, I realised Zane had left his bag in the lobby. So I had to huff and puff my way back to go get it. The manager was surprised to see me back so soon, ha ha, and I explained I had to go get Zane's back. 

I had intended going to the Hida Minzoka Mura Folk Village but having already seen Shirakawa-go, and it already being 1130 am, I thought we should just drive through Takayama and onto Matsumoto . The drive was about 86 kms and the views from the winding roads in the mountains were simply spectacular. Each curve of the road yielded a better view. There were rivers, valleys and snow capped mountain. And also lots of tunnels. Some as long as 10 kms. On the way to Matsumoto, I wanted to make a quick detour to check out Kiso Valley, which was on the way, but when we tried to take the turn that would take us onto the narrow road, there were cops stationed who wouldn't let us through. The road was barricaded and they didn't have enough english to explain why. So we thought oh well, and headed straight to Matsumoto. Just before we entered the city, we found a place to grab some lunch as the boys were hungry now. 

The city was much more developed than I anticipated. Proper signals and four lane roads. The hate we were staying at, the Dormy Inn, was easy to find. I had emailed them ahead of time to let them know we would be needing a parking spot for our car, and they had told us there is parking on site . The hotel was right on the road and I couldn't see parking anywhere, so we pulled onto the side road and I quickly got out and ran to the hotel entrance (and managed to twist my ankle in the hurry to get there) and found a lovely receptionist who quickly followed me back to the car. She pointed to a building and said we park here. I couldn't see any slots. Then I realised the entire building was the actual car park. It was automated, you drove your car inside, punched a few buttons on a panel on the outside of the building, and voila! Your car is whisked away up and parked somewhere safe and completely out of sight. It was all very impressive. 

Check in was simple, we had two rooms with breakfast. They have an onsen on the rooftop and the rooms were clean and comfortable. My ankle was starting to throb so I lay down and put it up on a pillow and iced it for a bit. Then, on the side table, I found a sign that showed pictorially how to use the onsen and the do's and the do not's and it was hilarious . One of the rules said no not wash your clothes or dye your hair in the onsen! Imagine someone dyeing their hair in there! I was greatly amused by it and had to take a picture and share it. Anyway, once I had recovered from that, it was time to suck it up, and walk to Matsumoto Castle. Godwin was keen on getting sunset pictures and so we set off. The boys stopped for ice cream on the way while Godwin carried on to find his perfect spot and set up his tripod. We walked through the town, which was absolutely lovely, and leisurely made our way to the castle complex. There were hardly any people headed that way. As we entered the gates to the castle complex, we were approached by this elderly Japanese man walking his dog. He asked if we spoke English and he was thrilled to know we were from India. He went on to tell us he was Buddhist, that he had worked in the US for many years which is how he knew English so well and wanted to practice it, and that he was very happy to meet people that came from the birthplace of Gautama Buddha. Zane told her our house was very very far away and that we had to catch two planes to get here.

Then, we continued on to try and find Godwin and came across a group of Indonesian people, more like a film crew, that were shooting a segment in front of the castle. There were a few benches there so the boys and I settled down to watch. The castle is absolutely beautiful, but more so in the setting sun. There's a moat filled with water and the boys watched the ducks waddling in the water for a while. Then we took some obligatory pictures in front of the caste and made our way back through the town. Zane wanted some fast food, so we took him for some burgers and fries, and made our way back to the Dormy Inn where in the evenings, they serve some yummilicious ramen to the hotel guests.

Then it was time to hit the sack, rest my foot and hope it would be better in the morning. I loved Matsumoto but tomorrow, we would make our way to the Lake Kawaguchiko area.

Steps walked: 8530
Coming up: The ever elusive Mt Fuji!