Kanazawa

We slept so much better last night! You wouldn't think that an extra 2 inches would make any difference, but it did. Today was a travel day. After breakfast, we boarded a bus to take us down to Odawara where we picked up the bullet train. What an operation! The train comes into the station and you all have about a minute and a half to get on the train before it pulls out! Fortunately, there are assigned seats and Junko had us line up in reverse order so that we could all get on in a timely manner. We all got out of the aisle and into our seats before the train pulled away from the station and then we could get up and stow our luggage in the overhead shelf. We did get to see a couple of trains go through our station before our train arrived. I'm glad we got to see how fast they sped by while we were standing still because once you are on the train, you don't really get the feeling that you are traveling at 180 miles per hour! When they go through the stations, they have to slow down a bit so the average speed is about 160 mph. It was a very smooth and comfortable ride. There is tons of leg room and almost no motion so it is easy to get up and walk around. The absolute best thing that happened is that we went by Mount Fuji in the distance and I was finally successful in snapping a picture! We got to our next stop, Nagoya, in 70 minutes - a total distance from Odawara of 176.3 miles. We really need something like this in the States! At the station in Nagoya, we were given twenty minutes or so to pick up a lunch to go. Dave and I opted to stop at the bakery and we each got a blueberry nut muffin (we have been eating so much lately, we figured that it wouldn't hurt us to go light for a meal or two when we can). We then walked over to another set of tracks to board the express train (80 mph as opposed to the bullet train). We ate our lunches after the train started. Kelly opted to buy a bento lunch box from the cart that was wheeled down the aisle. She said it was very good. We enjoyed the scenery as we passed many rice fields (although most of them had been harvested already) and many fields of green tea bushes. The funny part of the ride came at about the 1 hour mark. When the train pulled into the station, we all got into the aisle and swung the seats around so we would be facing front when the train started up again as we were going to be heading in a different direction than the main track - quite an interesting way of doing things. We then traveled 2 more hours before reaching Kanazawa. Junko passed around some Japanese fairy tale books (English translations of course) on the train as well as some photos of her family. She has a brother and a sister (both married) and two nephews. She is 41 and not married. She has said that at her age, the possibilities of marriage are slim as most people meet and marry shortly after going to university. She is quite a lovely young woman and would be a quite a catch from our view. At any rate, when we arrived in Kanazawa (population 450,000), we took a taxi to our hotel which is centrally located in the city and is attached to a large department store (Lana is in seventh heaven!). The hotel is a western style one so we have a real bed! Here we have a separate toilet room and a combined sink and bath with shower, but they are across a little hall from each other! The funny thing here is that when you walk into the room, the toilet cover raises automatically! It also has a heated seat. Junko says that some of them play music when you sit down ( I wonder what the song is - I could think of a few "not so appropriate" ones). Our large bags had been delivered to our rooms so now we can have a few more options for dressing tomorrow. After freshening up, Junko took us for a tour of the hotel and through the first floor of the department store. We then crossed the street to the Market. Every type of fish or produce was available for sale. Junko treated us to some dried seaweed and tangerines. We came back to the hotel and had a brief rest before dinner. Dinner tonight was American/Japanese style: no chopsticks (just in case we had forgotten how to use silverware), salad, a plate with 4 small sections with fish and scallops, bacon and spinach quiche, beef and mushrooms, and potato garnished with carrots shaped like maple leaves and pea pods. Desert was a sampling of cake, chocolate mousse, and fresh fruit. We will go for a walk in the morning to check out the surrounding area. Tomorrow after breakfast, we will be going for a city tour.