Trip to Japan in October 2014, part 1: Ryugon ryokan, Tenshi no Sato

And so we are continuing the story of our October trip to Japan.

After getting to Niigata station on a regular train, we transferred to Shinkansen Max Toki to IchigoYuzawa station.

Max Toki - two story Toki Shinkansen.

A car from our next planned ryokan was waiting for us already at Ichigo Yuzawa. The driver was easy to recognize - he was in a traditional Japanese outfit with the ryokan symbol on the back.

On the way we stopped at a "covered street" - just a sidewalk with a roof over it, that was very cool according to the driver -
since you can walk there with no umbrella in the rain.

This place is called Bokushi street in Shiozawa city, it is build according to Edo period standards.

At the ryokan first of all we were seated in the waiting area and given some tea and sweets.

And then we were accompanied to our room that we immediately photographed while it was still a day.

The important feature of this ryokan is its history. It was established over 200 years ago and the buildings of the time are still in use,
so you are essentially living in a 200 years old museum. There's also no second floor above the living rooms as the original
owner concluded it's disrespectful to allow guests to "walk on heads of other guests".

Entryway, hall and the entrance to bathroom and toilet.

First room that is also used as the bedroom.

From it you can see an outer pond (without fish) and an outer wall.

Second room and a dining table.

Outer pond.

Sink

and bathroom.

Overall the room is also pretty big, probably not any less than the Tachibana-Ya one.

Then we walked around the ryokan itself.

Long hallway with room entrances on one side.

Along the hallway we also found something like an old-style library with a fireplace and such.

There was also kind of second-story loft.

Straw boots - probably very useful in winters (there were pictures on the walls depicting village streets with snow accumulated above roofs).

A pile of firewood

A stove, though the day was actually not all that cold.

Walking in the other direction we encountered a cook that was preparing a bonfire for fish.

The bonfire itself.

Souvenir shop and a tearoom. Here we were offered some free tea and sweets.

In the corner there was a reconstructed old-style tearoom.

While we were walking around the time for dinner came, and as is usual for such places, the dinner was great.

Fish from the bonfire we saw earlier.

And then a breakfast ;)

By the way, Niigata prefecture is also famous for its Koshihikari rice, so we also bought a sack of it here. And of course some sake.

Since in this Ryokan we only stayed for a single night, we decided to see everything around in the morning.

Surrounding garden and pond were bigger than in the previous one, the fish also looked healthier.

And then, time to check out and move to our next destination.

On the way back our driver was a girl in kimono.

From Niigata we went straight to Kyoto (JR Pass is a very great thing!).

In Kyoto we were staying in some so-so ryokan and the only picture left is a fun samurai toilet sign:

And of course while in Kyoto we went to Tenshi no Sato again, because in one of those days they had a seasonal flower event, and we also wanted to see our friends too.

SD-Mother with angels were removed.

After the renovations the angels-tenshies are now sitting in the vine on walls, barely noticeable, mostly Sei-Tenshies.

Ren and Arabella meet again ;)

And we also met somebody's Kasumi too!

But the very first thing was of course to go to the cafe to checkout new event cakes!

All of them were waiting patiently for us to finish with the cakes ;)

And this photoshoot was called "Blossoming of young love"

Here again is the beautiful Arabell that belongs to Shawnah..

She was dreaming when she were noticed by the flower angels (as our friend named them)

Dianthus

And Delphinium.

They probably decided to realize her wishes and that's when he appeared out of the mirror!

Who sent him here through all these mirrors?

The are looking nice together, don't you think?

And come up with your own ideas about what happened next ;)

A few frames are also missing here, history omitted them.

And then we were asked not to disturb them anymore! (more frames missing). Interested parties can ask Ksusha for a private copy.

"If you ever feel alone and the glare makes me hard to find
Just know that I'm always parallel on the other side" (c)

That's the end of this story.

And at the same time little angels were enjoying this story from a biiig chair.

Also they had some pictures taken with flowers.

It's already evening outside and and a lot fewer people compared to the opening time, let's take another look at the first floor of the Tenshi no Sato.

Doll of one of the visitors. I really liked her kimono.

Towards the end we also walked a bit in the garden.

This plywood cat is certainly not going to run away ;)

After Tenshi no Sato we went to one of traditional restaurants of  Arashiyama for dinner.

Tofu was boiled right in this piece of paper.

The restaurant also had this nice-looking hallway.

I guess it's worth going to Japan even if only just for their food ;)

On the way back we saw two girls in Kimono in the subway.

And that's the end of today's report - next day we went back to Tokyo and on the same day flew back home.