Nakasendo - Part 1

 Tyler Reporting:

(The last few entries, I had been transcribing my journal here. But, as we set out on the Nakasendo hiking portion of the trip, I shipped my journal ahead to Tokyo. So, this and the next entry are transcribed from some rough notes I made on scraps of paper.)

Day 11 - Got up, had breakfast and caught a small ferry to Hiroshima. Saw the A-Bomb Dome, Peace Park and went to the Museum there. Powerful. Upsetting. Also crowded. They were getting set up for the 79th Anniversary in 2 days. At the Memorial For Children, two girls talk to Sarah for part of their homework assignment. 

The A-Bomb Dome. Because the bomb detonated almost directly above this structure, it largely remained standing and is one of the few remaining, preserved structures.

I didn't take any photos in the museum, because it didn't seem appropriate. But appropriately, it was a difficult experience. A worthwhile one, but one that leaves you feeling hollow.

The Children's Memorial. Dedicated to children who lost their lives as a result of the bomb.

Sarah talking to the two High School girls. They asked her a number of questions and gave her a demonstration of how to fold a paper crane.

Afterward, have super tasty okonomyaki, in a neat, cramped little restaurant on the second floor of a building. Then too much shopping. I was basically over shopping this day the way Stella was over the heat yesterday.

The kids cooking up their okonomyaki on their table top.

We had okonomiyaki in Osaka on our first trip to Japan, but there seems to be a lot of regional variation. But, its effectively a stack noodles, veggies, meats and egg cooked on a flat top... in this case on our table top. Sarah and I both liked this a lot more than the previous time we tried it.

Considered going to a Hiroshima Carps baseball game, but Sarah accidentally got us lost going there, so we threw in the towel and headed back to Miyajima Island. Had dinner at an OK place on the front strip, then back to the hotel for baths and beer.

Day 12 - Got up and had an "American" breakfast. Basically, the hotel was convinced that we (or at least the kids) didn't like Japanese food... so they made us all an odd hybrid breakfast. Fries for breakfast! Then it was ferry to train to bullet train... but J and I messed up buying tickets. Their family got stuck with 1st class ("Green Car") tickets, so we were sadly split up on our last train ride. With them off to Kobe, it was just us for Kyoto. 

Chaotic arrival, but cute hotel. Conveyor belt sushi for Otto, followed by a walk down the narrow alley street that runs along the river. Back at the hotel, I went out and walked through the shrine near out place, then through the Gion neighborhood. Then Sarah and I had beers at a walk-up counter across the street from our hotel.

With this second visit, Kyoto becomes park of a small club of foreign cities I've visited on more than one occasion (Paris, Santiago and Reykjavik being the other three). It is surreal to be here again and be like "oh yeah, I remember this."

Conveyor belt sushi. One of the things that Otto insisted we do on this second trip. His happy place.

Streetside beers with my favorite traveling companion. (The women to the right and her partner spent waaaaay more time taking pictures of her eating eating her food than they spent actually eating the food.)

Day 13 - Prep day! Lots of getting ready to hike. Souffle pancakes for breakfast. Then shopping for supplies, followed by fancy shaved ice, followed by Magic and Pokemon card shopping. Went back to our hotel, packed and dropped our bags off at a convenience store to have them shipped to Tokyo. Then tempura dinner in a tiny, one-conter restaurant. Then down time (Boring!) in the room, except for when Stella and I ventured out for a walk through the shrine from the previous night and along the river.

Fancy shaved ice! Though, I think it was here that Otto decided that he preferred regular shaved ice. In fact, he probably just prefers a pile of shaved ice, sans flavor.

I know Sarah is on the fence about Kyoto, but I definitely liked the area we stayed in, overall. Especially in the evening when it lit up nicely.

Another photo from my evening walk with Stella. I'm pretty sure we visited this shrine on our previous trip, but it was neat to come here in the evening, when the lanterns were aglow. 

Day 14 - Wake up, packed and hit the road: Bus to Bullet Train to regular train to bus again.  Then we began the Nakasendo trail! 

Hiking first up through a super cute -but hot- village, passing multiple water wheels. This trail has more hikers. Not a ton, but a few, and all seemingly headed in the same direction. Stopped for lunch at a rustic restaurant that served buckwheat noodles. Then up, over a pass, down through a construction site detour, stopping to take in two waterfalls. (Cue a ton of photos...)

One of the numerous waterwheels that added to the ambiance of the village where our hike started. Over the first couple of days, water and waterwheels were a reoccurring theme. I loved how stream systems invariably were braided through these villages. 

Setting out on the Nakasendo. Starting with an uphill climb through a scenic, but exposed village.

Pretty regularly on our hike, you'd come across these bear bells, which you are supposed to ring to scare off bears in the area. We'd ring them just for good luck.

The charming little restaurant we ate lunch at on our first day.

Sarah in her happy place: Hiking through the wilderness.

And it's easy to understand why she is smiling, with scenery like this.

Unlike the Kumano Kodo, the Nakasendo isn't a pilgrimage trail, so you didn't get the regularly occurring shrines, but that didn't mean that we weren't periodically coming across small shrines, headstone, rocks with poetry carved in them and other signs of the trail's lengthy history.

Sarah and our shutterbug posing by a scenic river.

A section of the trail, winding down through the trees, strikingly.

It is pretty amusing how obsessed the Japanese seem to be with putting chibi characters on *everything.* Even then construction detour signs had them.

Sarah posing next to the Feminine Waterfall (the other one was the Masculine Waterfall). Despite the humorous optical illusion, Sarah is not as tall as the waterfall.

Then, on to the village of O Tomago where we found our inn for the evening. It's really cute, and really traditional. Dinner is at 6pm. 

Checked into our traditional inn, wearing our traditional yakutas, laying on our traditional futons and looking at our traditional smartphones.