Saturday morning, I met Natalie in the Keio Tama Railway Centre and we made our way by two trains into Tokyo central. Bought Natalie return tickets to Kanazawa (she had a student discount voucher) and we were given ones for a route she had not taken before, not thru Osaka. Eventually found the correct counter to exchange the Japan Rail Pass voucher (despite what the instructions from Australia said, we could not do this at the ticket counter). Had bento boxes for lunch on the first train. It transpired that the second train went over some tracks which belonged to companies other than JR, so I had to pay a supplement with my rail pass. Conductor had laminated sign explaining this in English and characters.
Arrived in Kanazawa, went out the East exit, and could see the hotel, looking a lot posher than the internet photo indicated. It is very nice. The room is spacious by any standards, so enormous by Japanese standards, and each of the twin beds is a three-quarter Queen. And when we checked in, were given vouchers for breakfast. The buffet is excellent with both English style food (heavily patronised by the Japanese guests) and Japanese style food (favoured by Natalie and me) plus pastries and fruit and salad.
The first evening, we went out to a restaurant Natalie knew from her student days in Kanazawa (her catered accommodation did not serve meals on Sundays). It specialises in the Japanese dish of rice wrapped in omelette.
We also visited Natalie's favourite t-shirt shop - one that has sizes that fit Westerners, and the quality is good - white t-shirts one cannot see straight thru. Natalie chose three t-shirts and I chose one.
The second day, we did some shopping - still looking for nice umbrellas to replace those we bought in April (Natalie's turned inside out in the last typhoon; mine left on a bus in Fribourg).
In the railway centre, I had free green tea with gold in it. And there was a classical concert by the Ishiwaki Music Academy. The players were all very good, especially the first violinist and the cellist. Then we walked past Natalie's student accommodation, and onto another shopping area she patronised as a student. Had very light lunch at a German Bakery. There were three young men there, speaking German - we wondered what they made of it. It rained while we were having lunch but it was still hot, and maybe more humid, as we walked back. Stopped at a Lawsons and bought ghibli tickets and a large bottle of water. After cooling down in our room, we did an exhaustive pass thru all the shops in the main department store building (window shopping without the windows). Then we had dinner at another restaurant on 6F there - an Italian style one this time (with chopsticks to eat the spaghetti with).
This morning (Monday), Natalie has gone to meet a friend and I am enjoying the cool of our room.
[ Last edited 20/08/2012 12:22pm ]
