Day 4 - Bessho Onsen

Full Japanese breakfast supplied by the ryokan this morning ... That bit harder to be adventurous and willing to try things first thing in the morning!! Especially since the tendency for salty and pickled foods is a far cry from how we normally start the day. Not to mention that it's at least 2-3 times the size of a normal breakfast. But we mostly got through it ... Parts were enjoyable, others less so, as always :) We weren't quite sure how Eli would go being confronted with yet another serve of rice (plus miscellaneous extras) when up to this point breakfast had been his point of relative normality, but he did remarkably well. I didn't quite follow/remember everything Rachel added into it, but she ensured it was sufficiently nutritionally balanced :)

The plan for the day was mostly to check out the local area, which has a lot of shrines and temples, though we didn't want to overdo that side of things given the plentiful similar opportunities to come in Kyoto. The other option was to check out Ueda city (where we got off the Shinkansen) and given our sudden desire for something a little more Western for lunch we thought this was a better bet in that regard. So the morning was spent visiting the Kitamuki-kannon temple, which stands next to a 1200 year old tree, looks great, and would probably mean a bit more to us if we could read Japanese!! The volunteer was very nice and enthusiastic and the bits of English he spoke were quite good, but I suspect they were mostly a few well-worn phrases, and he didn't volunteer any more information about the whole thing than telling us about the tree, getting us to wash our hands in Onsen water, and telling us how to get good luck/blessings by throwing coins into the trough. A group of primary aged kids found Eli very fascinating, and he was very patient as they squeezed his cheeks and stroked his hair!!

Wandering around the town was lovely, and made more so by the discovery of Bessyo Esspresso, a little espresso bar with a selection of roasted-on-premises beans, run by a friendly young local guy offering a "proper" selection of styles (though we differ in our definition of macchiato, but his version was a flat white so that was fine with me!). A sharp contrast with the mostly super-automatic espressos we'd found around Shinjuku, and certainly preferable to the filtered coffee that was on offer everywhere else in town.

Then it was back on the vintage Ueda Electric railway to head back into Ueda. We weren't really sure what we wanted to see there, but headed towards a large shopping centre in search of some food Eli would eat more easily than the soba & udon noodles that are the staples in Bessho, as the first item of business. This turned into an afternoon experiencing Japanese shopping mall culture, including a visit to the pet shop, which may yet turn out to be the highlight of Eli's trip! Just nobody tell him he can get that in Australia :)

On the recommendation of our friend from Bessyo Espresso, we headed back in time to see Anrajuka Temple before it closed. Apparently the octagonal pagoda is the only one of its kind left in Japan, and is listed as a National Treasure. He was also right that it is an incredibly serene locale .. A lovely way to end the day, and Eli got plenty of practice using stairs and his words "up" and "down."

Dinner again provided by the ryokan was a variation on the night before, but with a similar overall structure and themes. For some reason we were considerably less hungry this time than the night before, so both of us struggled a bit and neither of us finished our meals (they really are huge). After dinner both Rachel and Iain took it in turns to use the ryokan Onsen baths (Iain had also done so the night before) which was an enjoyable if slightly nervous experience for two people who like to be sure they're not offending others by not doing things according to the bath "rules."