I didn’t have a good nights sleep last night.  I think the air intake on the wood stove was partly blocked so the fire didn’t stay burning very well.  Whilst the room was warm enough, I didn’t want it to be cold when we woke up and I had to re-light it at 1 in the morning.  Luckily there was some small kindling in the entrance.

We woke up a bit before 7 and had breakfast; it was yam on rice with bonito.  It was delicious, despite Kaoru not being sure what I would think of the yam.  After breakfast we finished packing, and left home about 8.00.

On the way to the train station we stopped at a convenient store to get a train ticket we need for later.  This was a 2 day travel pass, which would start today, and continue through tomorrow, saving us quite a bit of money on the trains and buses.  Then we were dropped off at the station with about 15 minutes to spare.  We caught the train from Kuroiso (near Okasan and Ottosan’s) to Kooriyama station.  That was about 1 hour train trip, and at the end we had about an hour to kill.  We walked around the shopping centre and bought some food.  Then we caught the train to Aizu-Wakamatsu station – the main station in Aizu, where we were to spend the next few days.  Aizu is where the Akabeko – the red cow that shakes its head for good luck – originated.  That was another hour train trip, through some beautiful countryside where the snow was getting thicker in areas – it was certainly going to be colder than Nasu!  At the end we had about an hour to wait for our next train, so we went to the information centre, and then got a hot chocolate.

Our original plan was to take the suitcase to the hotel, but that would waste too much time; so we were going to take it with us for the day.  However at the Information Centre, there was a sign saying they would deliver suitcases free of charge, so that seemed perfect for us!  It was raining today, so we had planned to basically do a couple of hours on a train looking at the scenery, and then the couple of hours back.  However the lady at the information centre suggested getting off at Aizu-Yamaizu and spending a couple of hours there.  Before catching the train we grabbed some sushi from the supermarket for lunch.

We got off at a small station.  There was a heater inside, boiling a kettle of water.  We then walked towards the temple, finding the smallest Alfa Romeo I’ve ever seen along the way!  We went up some stairs to what we thought was the temple, however it was just a smaller one.  We followed a trail covered snow, through the rain, laughing the whole way.  Luckily I was wearing my waterproof boots so I would go first to find the solid snow (or just sink to the bottom) and Kaoru would walk in my footsteps.  We finally got to the main temple, our feet slightly damp, but we enjoyed our little adventure.

At the temple we found a statue that we were supposed to touch for good luck.   So we both gave him a stroke for some luck, before walking inside the temple for a bit.  It was amazing to see the sculptings in the woodwork.

We made our way back down to town and stopped in a bakery for some afternoon tea.  We then made our way back to the train station, the scenic way, crossing the red bridges in town.  The drizzle didn’t dampen our spirits – we were enjoying being away together as it had been a long time, and the town was very picturesque.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We made it back to the train station with about 15 minutes to spare.  Given the next train was 2 hours away, we didn’t want to miss it!  So we travelled the 1 hour back to Aizu, and then caught the “Hop on Hop off” bus (which was free, thanks to our travel card), which took about 30 minutes to get to near our hotel.  It was then a 5 minute walk and finally we had arrived.

After checking in, before we could go to our room we had to have a welcome drink.  As nice as a drink after a long days travelling is, it was 6.30 and we just wanted to go to our room.  Anyway we had a sake, and then were taken up to our room.  But had to rush downstairs to make our 6.30 dinner reservation.  It just didn’t stop!

Dinner was quite a feast.  And Kaoru had planned a couple of extra treats.  So as well as the set menu which included a glass of sake, and a variety of different local foods, there was also a sake tasting platter, which included 5 more sake’s.  Plus, halfway through the meal, they brought out horse sushi.  I had eaten horse once before but that was thinly sliced and with a salad.  This was just raw horse meat, with some soy sauce and mizu.  It was quite nice.

By the end of the meal we were both full to the brim, and it was a struggle to make it back up to our room!  But we got changed and went downstairs to the communal onsen for a bath (separate mens and womens).  It was nice to sit down and have a good wash, and then relax in the hot water for a while – although I couldn’t stay in there long, as it was just too hot.  I did sit on the reflexology machine (foot massager) for a little bit, which was nice too.

And so endith the first day of our adventures.