Twilight

Recently a fellow expat at the International House asked Patrick what he thought of his time in Tokyo. He said it was like one big day - filled with so many good things - that went too fast. We have come to the twilight of that day, but that didn't stop Chris from planning one last family adventure before bedtime! 

Our travels took us westward into the mountains to Matsumoto where we reveled in a second spring. The memory of warm sunshine and petals on the wind still makes me smile! Our slow stroll around the castle grounds was a welcome surprise - we've had many shoulder-to-shoulder tours with fellow adventurists during our time here, so the leisurely pace of the wide open space felt like a gift to us.

The castle itself - the oldest in Japan - is perhaps our favorite! Somehow this castle has been spared the damage necessitating the restorative measures required at other castles.  This one is entirely original and visions of ninjas moving stealthily about the narrow stairs were easy to conjure.

Hand-chiseled wooden beams

Ninjas on the loose

Interesting as we found it, our wee ninjas eventually tired of time travel, so we retreated to our ryoken for one last experience at a Japanese inn. Will the food at these places ever cease to impress me? I hope not, because whoever is in the kitchen designing clever edible representations of the natural world is pretty much a genius in my estimation. Each course is truly a work of art.

The warmth of spring sunshine soon faded to cool mountain air - a perfect invitation for a dip in our hot-spring-fed onsen. Not long after that, we were snuggled atop our futons for the night.  Talk about a day that went too fast!