Today it was time to go back down south. We got up in Morioka, got up and ready and headed down the station for an early but post rush hour train. We had to change 3 times to get to Matsumoto with only 8 minutes between changes. But you could set your clock by Japanese trains so of course the whole thing was a pleasure. The 4 hours of trains was snoozed away mostly and by 14:00 we'd rocked up in crazy middle of nowhere Matsumoto.
We were immediately taken by Matsumoto because even though it was little, it is pretty, fun, has it's amenities were we like them and the Hotel was not too far away. We stayed in a Hotel Dormy again. I likes me a business hotel on the 7th floor after 5 days on the bounce in Ryokans. There is something beautifully anonymous about it.
We had a coffee down the road until our room was ready, dumped our bags in the room and headed out to see the sights.
It is very easy to walk about. The centre is about a square km or so. The town itself is sandwiched between mountains in a nice little valley. There's a lovely little river running through it.
Along the river side is a street that has been around since the Edo period. We noticed it had several frog statues on it. We later found out that the frog thing is just a play on words with what the street name is called or something. Not quite the legend we were hop(p)ing for. But these Samurai frogs cheered me right up!
The main draw of the town is the castle, Matsumoto-jo. The castles in Japan, and this one in particular, are so well looked after. It had a very impressive moat and had surrounding cherry blossom.
The castle looks like it only has five floors but actually it has six.
A "hidden floor" is inside with no windows and it is where they used to stock pile weapons and food in case of invasion. We went into the castle and had a good poke about. It had some interesting stuff in there. They had a "running" floor around the second level for the Samurai to charge about in bashing and kersplatting the enemy coming up the battlements. We saw the hidden floor; you'd have to be short to hang around there. Also it had a "moon watching" extension where the Samurai would sit and relax. But the best thing was the view from the top.
Very nice. So after leaving the castle we wandered around a little (everything seems to shut in Matsumoto between 17:00 and 18:00) and then found a quite little English pub (huh?) called the Old Rock. Have to admit, this is the first English pub we've seen in Japan outback and it was quite funny to go in it. They really have tried to make it the same as what they think we have: oak bar, fish and chips, burgers and pints. It was all very cute. And made me a little homesick.
We even had a few (well 3) beers there. It was grand. Tomorrow we are going for a lovely day out in the country to the Kiso valley for a little hike in rural Japan.
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