=== April 27th ===
+==== Afternoon: travel to Nikko ====
+
+Nikko is in an adjacent valley east of Nagano on the Japanese alps. Unfortunately, no train lines
+and busses connect them directly, so we had to take an expensive -- yet very fast -- Shinkansen
+detour all the way down to Saitama and then up again.
+
+Once at the station, we immediately realized that our was a good investment, after all.
+This mountain town overflows with temples, world heritage sites and statues of Buddah
+spread in an extremely beautiful natural environment with many great falls, ancient woods
+and hot springs where even wild monkeys take an onsen.
+
+Our [[http://www.nikkoparklodge.com/|hostel]] is ran by Zen monks and serves an unforgettable
+vegan dinner with seit. In the evening, we exchanged excited stories with a family of Italian tourists from Milan who had
+chosen to travel by car rather than by train to save money and gather access to places unreachable
+by public transport. Quite a smart idea for groups of 3-4 people who aren't afraid of driving
+on the left.
+
+Surprisingly, one of the monks speaks perfect English. He told us that he lived in California
+for some time. An explanation worthy of the plot of a very bad 007 movie, where locals
+always happen to speak English somehow, saving James from the embarrassing need of resorting
+to silly gestures in order to get his stupid Vodka Martini the way he likes it.
+
+Tomorrow, of course after our morning yoga and vegan breakfast, we're going on a day long
+guided hiking tour with the monks, which sounds really cool.
+
+
==== Morning: Zenko-ji ====
In the morning, we tried again to visit the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenk%C5%8D-ji]].
my camera, which was quite surprising, considering how tolerant Japanese people usually are
towards our ignorance of their culture.
-
-==== Afternoon: travel to Nikko ====
-
-Nikko is in an adjacent valley east of Nagano on the Japanese alps. Unfortunately, no train lines
-and busses connect them directly, so we had to take an expensive -- yet very fast -- Shinkansen
-detour all the way down to Saitama and then up again.
-
-Once at the station, we immediately realized that our was a good investment, after all.
-This mountain town overflows with temples, world heritage sites and statues of Buddah
-spread in an extremely beautiful natural environment with many great falls, ancient woods
-and hot springs where even wild monkeys take an onsen.
-
-Our [[http://www.nikkoparklodge.com/|hostel]] is ran by Zen monks and serves a wonderful vegan dinner.
-In the evening, we exchanged excited stories with a family of Italian tourists from Milan who had
-chosen to travel by car rather than by train to save money and gather access to places unreachable
-by public transport. Not a bad idea if you're not afraid of driving on the left.
-
+{{Pictures/vacation/japan_2009/Nagano/Zenko-ji/00186.jpg|The sacred inscription we can't read, let alone understand|maxwidth=800}}
=== April 26th: Matsumoto again ===
In the evening, we headed to [[http://wikitravel.org/en/Nagano]], a city famous for the
1998 winter olimpics and for an ancient [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenk%C5%8D-ji|buddhist temple]].
+{{Nagano/Shimizuya_Ryokan/00053.jpg|All sorts of accommodations come with good wi-fi, including traditional ryokans|maxwidth=800}}
**UPDATE**: the report for [[blog/2009/April#kyoto-higashiyama|April 21st]] is now available!
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