Nikko to Matsumoto

Today was mostly a travel day, with four different trains to get us here to Matsumoto. We had another super breakfast at the hotel before heading off through the drizzle across to the station. The weather gods were certainly kind to us for our stay in Nikko.

Japanese trains continue to amaze me. They are super clean, run perfectly on time, and the whole infrastructure is well organized that you can plan a trip across 4 separate train lines, with connections 10 minutes apart, and be confident that it will all work smoothly. There is the excitement when the sleek shinkansen slides in, and stops precisely so the door is aligned perfectly with the lines on the platform.  Plus there is often good human entertainment. On our first leg, three teenage girls with large wheeley cases got on and sat opposite us. A Japanese granny got on shortly after and sat next to them. As the train began to move, all three promptly fell asleep. With the movement of the train, the wheeley cases started rolling off down the carriage, and would have continued, had not granny firmly stopped them with her walking stick. She let the  girls sleep on, and sat calmly with her stick stopping the cases from rolling away. A bit later another teenage girl gave us an origami stork and an inedible sweet each, which was a very kind gesture which we appreciated. At our next stop, a young mum with a tiny baby in a sling stood next to us as we queued for our Shinkansen. With the universal language of mothers, she was soon showing off the baby's teeth to Anne, and all was going well till the baby locked gaze with me and started to cry. I do have that effect on people.

At Nagano, there was a splendid train opposite ours. Everything extra shiny, an attractive restaurant car and staff in extra snappy uniforms with extra white gloves. Enviously we watched that one sail away as we sat eating our "Iki Bens" - the bento boxes you can get on railway platforms.

Not that our lunch wasn't nice or that our train when we got onto it wasn't pleasant. And the views of the mountains on the last leg were almost too scenic to be true.  So, tired but happy we arrived at Matsumoto, and a short walk to our hotel.

I needed to get some cash from a post office ATM, and on the way back I passed a sight which seems to me quintessentially Japanese. An elderly Japanese lady was carefully taking a photo of an autumn leaf on a tree near the post office with a mobile phone camera. I know I am generalizing wildly, but I suspect that most seniors of her vintage in Australia would not know how to take a photo on their mobile, if indeed they had a mobile with a camera, and they would not have that sort of fascinated interest in a leaf turning its autumn colours. It was a lovely sight though. Good for her. I hope she wouldn't mind that I furtively took her photo as I walked past.

For dinner we went to a little restaurant that felt like it came straight out of a Shintaro  the Samurai episode. It was run by an older Japanese couple.  They were so hard working - a real struggle for Mrs to get up the stairs, and Mr literally ran serving the tables. I saw him out the window flying off down the street on his bicycle, and returning a few minutes later with a plastic bag of something. A lovely meal and very reasonably priced. Matsumoto looks like a nice city, not too big but lively - we are looking forward to exploring both its famous 'Black Crow' castle and some of its streets tomorrow.