Kyushu Island, Japan

On Tuesday , we flew to Kyushu Island in the south west of Japan where we would spend the next few days immersed in Japanese culture. Along the way to our first night's destination, we visited a shrine in Aso. All of the shrines have little altars where you can pray for good health, a good marriage, or whatever you feel you need, and each has its own particular rituals of bowing, tossing coins, walking in circles, etc. Tonight was spent at a Japanese resort where we all dressed in yakatas (robes) and obi sashes for kaiseki,  traditional Japanese dinner with nine courses. The menu included some strange things: raw horse meat, tofu wrapped deep-fried chestnuts, raw shrimp and sea bass with lime juice, sashimi including whelk, snapper, scallops, mackerel, cuttle fish, and amberjack. Also, a steamed dish of eel and root vegetables, a hot pot for cooking at the table beef and red rock fish!

Next day we headed to Yufuin and along the way stopped at a monastery to spend the morning with Buddhist Monks. We had a calligraphy lesson, participated in a meditation experience, and the highlight of our visit, a fire ceremony. After we each wrote a wish on a stick, the monks led us to their Buddist temple where we were privileged to be a part of their fire ceremony by tossing our sticks into the fire as they performed a ritualistic service. Lunch both today and yesterday were at small rural family run restaurants where we ate simple meals of a main course of chicken, beef or tofu accompanied by miso soup, salad and rice.

On to Yufuin where we will spend two nights at a traditional ryokan. I am now sitting in the living room of our ryokan at a table less than two feet off the floor, on a seat that sits on the floor, with my legs stretched out underneath. We do not sleep on the floor although there are mats in the closet for those who choose to. We have beds laid out on platforms. It is indeed just as you see in pictures and movies. This morning we visited a cultural center where we watched demonstrations in the arts of indigo dying, wood turning, paper making, and glass blowing, and four of us had fun dying our own
scarves. Later we all had Yufuin burgers for lunch.  ;)

Shinto Shrine

Traditional dinner, wearing yukatas, with Keiko, our interpreter

Buddhist Temple

Beginning of Fire Ceremony

Fire Ceremony

The two Buddhists

Living area of the ryokan

Paper making

Indigo dying teacher with my scarf

Tokyo, Japan

We arrived in Tokyo two days before we were to join our group, and have been here now for three days. The city is impressively clean and the Japanese people are very polite and eager to help. We have become adept at using the massive subway system and have walked for miles through very modern and very old sections and visited temples, shrines, and gardens. And we have eaten in Japanese restaurants where we were the only foreigners, and had our picture taken because we are a novelty.

There are twelve of us now and it is a congenial group having a good time together. This morning was all about food and we started at the Tokyo fish market, a massive building open every day but Sunday, filled with acres of fish stalls, but no fishy smell. Next we strolled through gorgeous food halls displaying all kinds of beautiful prepared food, followed by a sushi lunch that was a challenge for Deb, but great for Dave. Here are some pics of Tokyo...

A Shinto shrine

Bride and groom arriving at a shrine for their wedding

Sumo wrestlers on their way to a competition

A Japanese garden

Making pastries in a street food stall 

Octopus for dinner anyone?

Sushi grade tuna

Prepared food outside the fish market

Lunch

Doll dress shop for teens on Takeshita Dori

On the road again...

We are leaving today on the first leg of our journey to Japan and China, and hope you will join us. Until then, here is a shot of early fall on the farm.

Lake Como

Our first stop on Lake Como was in Cernobbio where we caught our first glimpse of the beauty and charm of this lake area. There are gorgeous villas and gardens everywhere, and the hills are dotted with pretty little churches. We chose a beautiful one, converted to a hotel with gardens.  We walked the gardens, climbed some ruins in the hill and ate.

Day two started with a drive along precarious narrow, curvy roads hugging the hillside on our way to Bellagio, the last stop of our trip. Lake Como looks like a wishbone with a triangle of land between the two arms of the lake. Bellagio is at the tip of the triangle; standing on the point you see the snow capped Alps to the North.

We met Dave's brother Hugh and wife, Georgia at our hotel and prepared to spend our next three days enjoying the countryside together. On day one we met our guide, Brian, who took us on a wonderful walk through the historical center of  Bellagio, up and down the hills of its hamlets, and through the gardens of the elegant Villa Melzi.

We stopped for a lovely interlude at Villa Crella looking at the spectacular views of the lake with church bells ringing nearby. The Villa has recently been restored by a young local family who host wine tastings. It was hard to tear ourselves away from the cheese, brasciola, and bread that accompanied three delicious Italian wines.

Afterwards, the remainder of our walk up and down the hillsides gave us the exercise we needed.

We met Brian the next morning for another wonderful day, this time to explore the central lake area by boat. Hugging the coastline, we passed picture manyperfect towns and hamlets, again dotted with exquisite villas. This villa was where Edward and Mrs. Simpson honeymooned.  Brian had wonderful stories to tell including the one about the convent on the opposite shore which, in the 1600s, was closed by the cardinal because it had many pregnant nuns.

At the Villa Balbianello, perched over the water, the villa and impeccably groomed gardens are stunning. Originally the residence of the noble family Giovio in the 1700s, it was purchased in 1974 and tastefully restored by Guido Monzini, who furnished it with English and French furniture, numerous collections of art, and the relics and memories of his travels, in particular one to the North Pole and the first Italian ascension to Everest. 

This visit was followed by lunch at Isola Comacina on the only island in the lake. Sitting under the trees on a sunny day with the soft wind blowing, we enjoyed a course of marinated local vegetables with warm bread fresh from the oven, followed by a course of fresh lake trout drizzled with local olive oil and lemons, followed by a course of light butter lettuce salad and roast chicken, followed by hunks of Parmesan cheese dug from the wheel, followed by homemade vanilla ice cream with sliced oranges drizzled with banana liqueur, followed by liquor laced coffee. Oh, did I mention the endless bottles of local Soave wine?

We're all resting now. NO dinner tonight!!

Lake Garda and Verona

Lake Garda is the first of two lakes that we will be living by in the next week. Our hotel is situated at the top of a big hill, right on the lake, reached by driving on a tiny road with multiple hairpin turns. It is a rather new hotel and spa that is oh, so environmentally correct. The setting is idyllic and the views are spectacular.

We're enjoying this special oasis for a couple of days before we go on. Meanwhile, we spent yesterday being driven by a charming man on an all day trip that included lunch and sightseeing in Verona and a visit to a Valpolicella winery.

Verona is a town that was not on our itinerary, but the more we heard about it, the more we knew we had to fit it in. There are three concentric walls, the first Roman, the second Medieval, and the third Renaissance.  Like all other medieval Italian cities and towns, it is a warren of small charming streets that wind around historical sights, cafes, and shops.  There is a classic Roman coliseum that they call the arena which is still used for summer operas because of its excellent acoustics.

Just wandering down one little street, we saw a sign that said Romeo's house. Further on, we saw another little sign declaring Juliette's house. Upon entering the dooryard, we were looking up at Juliette's balcony! What fun.

Next our driver took us through Valpolicella country.  We stopped at Mazzi, a small family run winery that produces 50,000 bottles a year, 80% of which are exported. We were treated to a tour by one of the sons and then sat with him to leisurely sample five of their wines, learning about the intricacies of the different varieties. Fascinating. Like the apricots in Wachau Valley, we had to take some with us to enjoy on the rest of the trip.

One little note on the drive back to our hotel...this is marble country. The hillsides in one particular area are quarries for the many different colors and designs of marble. All along the road are hugh squares of the marble and slabs already cut for export. They go on ad on. Other than Carrera, this is the largest marble producing area in Italy.

A drive that pictures can't describe

     We have had 2 spectacular days of driving.  Yesterday we drove East parallel to the Alps across Tyrol in Germany from Innsbruck to the castle of Neuschwanstein.  It was rolling dairy land with beautifully kept fields in the process of the first hay cutting.  On our left the whole day were the Alps.  We were on smaller roads so every 20 km or so we went through another small farm town that may have one restaurant.  We were frequently slowed down by farm machinery moving down the road.

     The end of the trip was the fair tale castle of King Ludwig II of Bavaria.  Perched high on a mountain top on the North edge of the alps looking over the beautiful country that I have just describe, was the model for the castles at Disneyland and Disney World.  Then a beautiful, but now common drive to Innsbruck, where from the city you can touch the mountains.
     The drive through the Brenner Pass from Innsbruck to Italy on a sunny day in spring was absolutely the most beautiful drive I have ever had.  Pictures couldn't show it  because the distance doesn't seem to show the detail and the contrast.  We were also driving on an autobahn and could not stop.  These mountains are still snow capped but the valleys and even the passes have early spring growth with the bright light green of early tree leave against the dark green of the pines and the starkness of the snow covered mountain peaks. On anything short of steep there were beautiful meadows and small towns with sharp tall steepled churches.  There were white billowy clouds overhanging it all.  It was a remarkably easy drive of about 3 hours on good roads with speeds of 65 to 80 mph (100 to 130 km/hr).  Now we are back in Italy where the views are good but the food is great!   Dave.

On to Salzburg

On our way to Salzburg we drove  along the banks of the Danube through the picturesque Wachau Valley, stopping along the way in Durnstein, a cute small town along the river known for its apricots and apricot products. I had read an article in the New York Times and was eager to try some of their products.

Entire shops were filled with nectars, spirits, candies, jams, soaps, etc. We bought some dried apricots and chocolate covered apricots to eat in the car, and I wished we could bring home more products but everything bought has to be carried again and again. Sigh.

In Salzburg, the old town is divided by the river. We were housed in the older part and were surrounded by quaint little streets with shops, cafes, and historical buildings winding around plazas.

The shops, cafes, etc. all had beautiful old signs that hung out over the walking street. I couldn't resist taking a picture of this particular restaurant's sign. Don't the golden arches just follow you everywhere! Just down the street from our hotel was the house where Mozart was born which would have been hard to miss except for the throngs of tourists photographing it.

Our tour that morning took us all through both parts of town. One particularly memorable site was a graveyard on the St. Peter's Monastery property where plots are rented, and cared for, by families of the deceased. They wind along walking paths and are beautifully planted, the whole area looking like little gardens.  The plots are rented by the monks to the families and when a family ceases to pay the rent the contents are removed and the plot rented to another party.

 On the other side of the river in the newer 'old' section, we enjoyed Mirabelle Gardens, site of one of the scenes in The Sound of Music. The movie was filmed in and around Salzburg. Our last evening we attended a very nice Mozart dinner and concert.