A lazy day and Matsumoto sightseeing trip

Day 9 was a lazy day. We paid the rent (which was more than expected, but still less if we were to do it the traditional way) (so for the Hogeschool Zuyd people, make sure you have more money ready than what the teacher thinks the rent will be). We were also invited over by Keiko and her husband for lunch. After lunch and receiving some home made blueberry jam, Keiko was kind enough to drive me to the station where I waited for about 20minutes for Megan to arrive. After asking a bus driver if said bus would go to the stop in front of our apartment, he had to think really hard. He finally concluded that it did not, but would stop somewhere close. So we took our first bus ride.

The bus system is somewhat different than what I'm used to in the Netherlands. You get in at the middle/back and take a ticket. On the ticket a number is shown (this time 1). Then as the bus does its route the fair will increase. This is shown on a nice screen up front. If you get in the bus at a later time, you will get a ticket with a 2,3,4,etc and the fair will be less. Funny thing is, the fair isn't calculated on how long you've been in the bus, but the distance from where you started. At a certain point the fair was 300 yen (this stop was the furthest away), but then it went back down to 190 yen as my stop was geographically closer to where my starting point was. I thought this was amusing, but also weird at the same time.

After dropping of the bags we went on to get something to eat and called it a day after that. Which bring us to...

Day 10: Matsumoto sightseeing!
Today we wanted to see some of the more touristy places in Matsumoto. The castle here is famous as it is one of the few still original castles. Most castles have had major restorations done on them (due to fires, wars, earthquakes etc). This castle, however, is one of the few that is still relatively intact.
The castle is protected by a moat, walls and guardhouses/gates. It is somewhat dark and also has the nickname, the black castle. We bought a ticket and went inside (no shoes allowed). The stairs were really steep and sometimes the passages were low (I did not bump my head this time!). We went up to the 6th floor which had a nice all round view and also a shrine to a local deity. One of the former lords of the castle had a vision in which a goddess told him to build a shrine for her and place a sack of rice there every month. If he did this, the castle would be safe.
Located near the castle was the city museum. We quickly paid a visit to this museum as well (the ticket you buy gives admission to both castle and museum). The museum wasn't very spectacular, but at least I can take it of the list.

After some shopping and returning to the apartment for lunch, we headed of to the 2nd hand shop in search for the magic item that would make our beds somewhat more comfy. We failed miserable as the shop did not have any second hand futons or similar items.

We then continued to the shrine that is but 3 minutes walk away from us. The Okamiya shrine. This is a small shrine located opposite of a local graveyard. It isn't big, but we took some photos none the less.

Which brings us to dinner! We wanted to got a place called Denden. This was recommended to us by a former Hogeschool Zuyd student who lives here now. So in the poring rain we walked towards Denden to find that was closed (3 day holiday). Before leaving I also came to the realisation that I left my umbrella at the restaurant the night before and had to scavenge one from bellow (which was too small). After this disappointment we decided to take Megan to Mos burger. After having a chicken teriyaki burger and some other burger with fish (yes, mom and dad, fish!) we continued home. However! We first stopped at the K-mart where I purchased myself the luxurious, the fine, the mighty, the 65cm wide(my former umbrella was only 53cm wide), new and improved umbrella!

So that is it for today. Hope you enjoyed it.