And so our adventures in Osaka wound down. Getting ourselves ready for the day, we packed our belongings and headed down for breakfast. We needed to be in Take Yama by the evening, but had most of the morning to kill in Osaka. After breakfast, we walked a little further south into the shopping district we'd been in yesterday. One of the most famous sights in Osaka, the Glico Man advertisement, was on the agenda. We navigated a few streets over and found the famous billboard. Snapping a few pictures, we noticed we were very close to Don Quixote, a large shopping franchise. They're famous for selling every manner of consumer good.
Wandering the floors of Don Quixote, we saw just about everything imaginable. All manner of music and videos, as well as household goods, candies, gift boxes and even costumes were there for the purchasing. When we started this trip, we checked only one suitcase each. As we'd started collecting souvenirs and momentos, we found ourselves in need of more luggage. The luggage rack at Don Quixotic did not disappoint. We found an acceptable suitcase, then continued to shop. Along the way, we encountered candies, coffee and other snacks for our train rides. Loading up on goodies, we passed through the checkout with our belongings.
Back at the hotel, we transfered belongings between the new suitcase and our other bag, then forwarded the suitcase to our last stop - Tokyo. This way, we'd have one less bag to manage on the trains. As Karl mentioned before, luggage forwarding is extrememly cost-effective, forwarding large bags for less than $10!
With our luggage fowarded, we made our way to the subway. We quickly arrived at our subway station, then transfered to the JR rail line for the Shinkansen bullet train station. The JR attendant quickly booked seats on our train to Nagoya, where we would transfer to another rail line for Takayama. With a few minutes to spare, Ramona grabbed snacks for the train ride - a cup of Hagen-Daas, a waffle-covered, chocolate-covered ice cream sandwich, salad and onigiri.
Our train sped from the station and raced across the countryside. You really can't feel the speed, but you can certainly watch the landscape change quickly. One moment, we're surrounded by buildings. Minutes later, it's all rice fields. Another moment, and it's a tunnel then you're racing along a mountainside. It's truly astonishing.
Arriving at Nagayo, we now switched trains for Takayama, in the Japanese Alps. We had just 15 minutes between trains, but the other train was on a nearby track and only took a few minutes to reach. With extra minutes to spare, Ramona bought a lunch set (a box containing multiple items) and Karl bought extra water. The lunch set included fried chicken (as indicated by the mighty chicken on the box cover), rice and vegetables. The train for Takayama was a railcar not too dissimilar from the JR lines we had taken before, except this train included a washroom at the junction between cars. This train ride was scheduled for 2.5 hours, so it would certainly come in handy. Right on schedule, the train eased out of the station, much slower than the Shinkansen, but certainly with purpose. As we crossed the countryside, we ate our lunch and watched the world go by. Ramona even had enough time to get caught up on The Good Wife!
As the train arrived in Takayama, we collected our belongings and exited. Right away, we could sense we were in a much smaller city than we'd been in before. The exit turnstile was manned by a pair of JR attendants and the familiar digital turnstiles were gone. Before catching a cab to our ryokan, we stopped for water at a nearby Family Mart, the only convenience store as common as Seven-11 (in the cities we'd visited so far). Even half way across the country, convenience stores in Japan continue to be just that: convenient!
Our taxi dropped us off in front of our ryokan. The proprietors greeted us warmly and showed us to our room. Our meals would consist of breakfast and dinner, served in a dining room downstairs. Coffee service would be available early, so Ramona could coffee as soon as she was ready. The onsen was available pretty late in the evening, so we would be able to use it almost whenever we liked. With that, she left us to our own devices.
We soon left the ryokan and walked around the town. Like other resort towns, this one seemed to close up at 5PM. We found many, many store fronts were dark and shopkeepers were pulling down the shutters for the evening. We continued to criss-cross the streets, taking in the quiet atmosphere. We also found the Takayama Fine Art museum, which housed displays on the city and its history as a former castle town and center of trade for the region.
We wandered back to our ryokan, just in time for dinner. In the dining room, we were served several courses of great foods, including sashimi, clear soup, rice, fried fish, tempura and something akin to a pot pie. Fully stuffed, we headed off for a quick dip in the onsen before bed.
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