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.
+Once at the station, we immediately realized it was a good deal, 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.
years. Quite a lucky combination! I was impressed by the devotion of the people around me.
The spiritual side of Japanese people does not seem to clash at all with their high-tech lifestyle.
-TODO: dark corridor
+Behind the temple, we were led down a narrow staircase to a dark and twisty corridor beneath
+the temple. We had to walk in the pitch black obscurity, touching the walls in search of a
+metal key of enlightenment. I could finally get hold of the key and turn it, but the most
+enlightening part of this experience was hearing the crowd of tourists apologizing for bumping
+into each other all the time ;-)
I only have outdoors [[Pictures/vacation/japan_2009/Nagano/Zenko-ji|photos]] becuase taking
pictures inside was strictly forbidden. A monk yelled at me just for fiddling too much with
ryokan, but we spotted a really long queue of pilgrims at the entrance, so we went back to the
station to visit the [[http://localhost/wiki/Pictures/vacation/japan_2009/Matsumoto/Castle|Matsumoto Castle]],
one of Japan's top 3 castles ([[Pictures/vacation/japan_2009/Matsumoto/Castle|photos]]). The adjacent
-museum was also great ([[Pictures/vacation/japan_2009/Matsumoto/Museum|photos]]). On our way back, we did see
-a [[Pictures/vacation/japan_2009/Nagano/dancing_kids|dancing show]] with cute little girls and their teachers.
-
-{{Pictures/vacation/japan_2009/Matsumoto/Castle/00147.jpg|Soooo conventiinal!|maxwidth=640}}
-{{Pictures/vacation/japan_2009/Matsumoto/Castle/00108.jpg|Scary, uh?|maxwidth=640}}
+museum was also great ([[Pictures/vacation/japan_2009/Matsumoto/Museum|photos]]). On our way back, we've found
+a peculiar [[Pictures/vacation/japan_2009/Nagano/dancing_kids|dancing show]] with cute little girls and their
+teachers.
Apparently, by leaving Nagano we missed some kind of prayer or event held by Tibetan monks at the
[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenk%C5%8D-ji|Zenko-ji]]. Too bad, it might have been a good chance
-to show some support for the Tibetan cause. Go, Tibet, Go!
+to show some support for the Tibetan cause. Go, Tibet, Go!!
+
+{{Pictures/vacation/japan_2009/Matsumoto/Castle/00147.jpg|Soooo conventiinal!|maxwidth=640}}
+{{Pictures/vacation/japan_2009/Matsumoto/Castle/00108.jpg|Scary, uh?|maxwidth=640}}
=== April 25th: Matsumoto ===
we spent the best part of the day at the [[Pictures/vacation/japan_2009/Matsumoto/Station|station]] and
with some dumb [[Pictures/vacation/japan_2009/Matsumoto/Shopping|shopping]].
-In the evening, we headed to [[http://wikitravel.org/en/Nagano]], a city famous for the
+In the evening, we headed to [[http://wikitravel.org/en/Nagano|Nagano]], a city famous for the
1998 winter olimpics and for an ancient [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenk%C5%8D-ji|buddhist temple]].
{{Pictures/vacation/japan_2009/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!
-
=== April 24th -- over 1 [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megametre|megameter]] by train ====
+**UPDATE**: the report for [[blog/2009/April#kyoto-higashiyama|April 21st]] is now available!
+
We left our comfortable hostel in Kyoto early in the morning for a second Shinkansen
ride of 360Km, this time on the faster [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nozomi_%28train%29|Nozomi]].
The one-way ticket was "just" 10,250円, equivalent to $105 or €80.