Today we said ‘sayonara’ to Kyoto, leaving the main station (which is seriously impressive, offers the best views of Kyoto as its fifteen storeys high and has a roof that puts Kings Cross and St Pancras to shame) at 8.30am for a four hour train journey to Takayama. We slept for most of the journey, the previous night had been the first proper nights sleep since arriving, and it seemed that once we'd remembered how to sleep, we just couldn't stop. The scenery during the brief moments when we were awake was fabulous….mountains, forests, rivers…wished I'd been able to remain conscious for long enough to see more of it.

Arrived in Takayama, a smallish city (population of 90,000) up in the mountains. First stop was lunch, Mark had a steamed beef bun (essentially a giant dumpling with beef in the middle…the diet’s going well). Pottered round the streets to get our bearings, some lovely oldie world streets with traditional housing, shops and eateries. Visited a shrine and then headed out of the town for a forest walk. Saw a sign telling us to watch out for bears, and while we were watching out for the bears we very nearly stood on a snake. In a clearing there was a Shinto graveyard, and at the far side there was a view of glacier topped alps….nice.

Back into town for a wander round the shops, where we bought personalised chop sticks to do our bit against deforestation (demand for wood to make disposable chopsticks is a real problem here).

Headed to the ryokan (traditional Japanese accommodation) and donned kimonos for dinner.

Not yet finished this days blog.....