Today is another travel day. Our rail tickets are for 1pm so we have plenty of time for a walk. We take a walking loop above the old town toward the former Takaysma Castle grounds. The path is in the forest, quiet with only a few people.
The overlook provides a view of Takayama and a huge temple in the distance which we later learn is an organization that promotes peace and spirituality.
At the train station, we think we are ahead of the game by arriving an hour early but passengers cannot enter the gate area until 15 min before do we wait. Our ride passes small rice fields and follows the river. It appears that cities are generally located in valleys surrounded by low mountains and forests.
We stop in Toyama to connect on the Shinkansen, though we were unaware of this as the ticket as far as we could understand, did not specify. Fortunately I had selected a 40 min and not a 5 min. break in between! The Shinkansen is much less crowded and the tide to Kanazawa is only 40 min. We see larger houses not unlike US suburbs.
Our hotel , Sanruku Kanazawa is a modern hotel right across from the fish market. After checking in, we take a walk. The market stalls are all closed but looks like a real seafood market. Kanazawa is a very modern city with a busy main thoroughfare but the “geisha” district is deserted, quite unlike Kyoto. Where are all the tourists, we wonder. It makes Kyoto and Osaka look llike cities on steroids! It seems the city caters more to Japanese tourists as there are few English signs. Even the restaurant names are all in Japanese and we need our translation app to decipher the restaurant menus posted outside. One store, closed for the evening, looks fascinating as it is an origami store. More to explore tomorrow.
