shirakawago

last weekend was such a great weekend! hiro and i, along with another couple went to a place called shirakawago. it is known for the houses with the slanted roofs, and when the snow is covering the town. ive seen many pictures in books, and online, and i have wanted to go for a long time! well i got that chance last weekend.

saturday morning, we got up and took a train for 2 hours to takayama. then a 1 hour bus ride took us to shirakawago. it was rainy, but not enough to bother us. we dropped our bags off at the house we were staying at, and then we headed out to explore the town. it looked so nice, with a layer of snow covering everything. we went inside some of the museum houses to look around. then we walked up a hill to get to a good viewing spot. it was really windy up there, but really beautiful to overlook the town.

that evening, we went back to the house we stayed in, and we had a huge dinner included with the room. the 4 of us shared a room and in the middle was a table. we had so much food. i even ate a fish head! then we bundled up again to go see the "light up" outside. that turned out to be a couple of spotlights shining on the houses. when we got back to our room, the table had been removed, and the whole room was full of futons!

the next day we got up and explored a little more. then we took a bus, about 40 minutes, to another town. this one was less touristy. it was really peaceful. just a bunch of older people lugging their tripods and cameras around. we walked around, played in the snow, ate lunch, did a little hike, and then got the bus back to shirakawago. from there we took the bus to takayama, and then ate dinner. then after a 2 hour train ride, we were back in nagoya.


it was such a nice trip. everything i thought it would be! we kept busy, but relaxed. it was nice to get out of town for a weekend and enjoy a new place in japan.