.Sharing ~ Learning ~ Growing ............................... The World Stories Project.

As soon as we arrived we went to our room and were served Japanese tea by a woman dressed in a yakuta (robe). It was a great way to take a breath after travelling. We did have roomates at the ryokan. This is Emily, she's the best. She has a fantastic sense of humor and keeps us all laughing. Poor Emily though, I disturbed her with my snoring. She shushed me which made me wake up laughing...only a teacher would shush a snorer.

Here's our view. There were mountains and a creek with a waterfall out the window. Hey, Elaine, falling asleep to water rushing by reminded me of your camp.

We were given a yakuta to wear and even the Japanese socks designed for wear with sandals. The socks were one of our souvenirs from the inn.

Dinner was served and served and served. We even cooked part of our own meal ~the egg~ at the table in the silver bowl (it had a fire underneath). I'm pretending to chow down on a fish head and all, but that was a little too much for me. The Japanese eat a lot of vegetables and fish, tofu and eggs, and rice. Most things I liked, but I stayed away from the really gooey looking things like eel.

This is Keiko-san. She is very proper Japanese style while eating. Most foods and drinks are brought to the mouth with two hands.

At a ryokan it is traditional for the Mama-san to come speak to the guests. Our hostess did just that. After she spoke to the group she came to each of the nineteen of us, greeted us, and presented us with her meishi. Hmmm memory question - remember what meishi is?

We did go into the hot spring baths, but cameras are not permitted there. If you want to see them, look at the website above and you'll get an idea of their beauty. Afterwards many of us had a massage. Mine was in my room, it was nice but much harder than massages I've had before. After the massage therapist left I peacefully fell asleep. Smile.

Before we left we were treated to a Japanese style breakfast. Then it was back to the Shinkansen (remember what that is?) and Tokyo.