The Ryokan

Traditional Japanese Inns - where you are waited on hand and foot by kimono clad women - don slippers as soon as you walk in the door, robes when you arrive in your room (sans slippers that you leave on the wood entry way prior to stepping foot on the tatami mats) , drink tea and are then treated to a sumptuous meal of many little courses and then watch as those kimono clad women expertly unfold and make up the futons you then sleep on.

This is when it turns nasty. Because for the price of a room at your local Four Seasons, you are sleeping on the floor in order to get a taste of traditional Japanese culture. I don't care that the meal was presented by two lovely ladies. I don't care that the room was quite beautiful in it's simplicity (ok, I could have done without the tv in the corner) and I don't care that we had a lovely view of the perfectly manicured Japanese garden outside our window.

We were still sleeping on the floor and every minute of the night I was reminded of that floor, in all of it's polished beauty. Beautiful Japanese floors are not comfortable. For those who think about what a wonderful experience it would be to sleep in a Ryokan, be warned. No matter how nice, how beautiful, how serene, how private - you will pay not only in cash but in pain as you struggle to get up off the floor in the morning while holding your back in agony, swearing on your next trip to find the hotel with the biggest, softest beds and stay there, no matter what the decor or service is.

Otherwise, our trip to Nara and Kyoto was lovely. Nara is the original capital of Japan, home to several amazing shrines and many deer, one of which butted baba-san in the butt as we strolled along the path.

The weather was beautiful, so we spent two days walking around, visiting shrines, taking pictures of the various shrines, the fall foliage, and the other people taking pictures of the fall foliage.

Fall is a unique experience here - everyone is out taking pictures with everything from cell phones to huge single lens reflex Nikons with huge lenses. The behavior is the same:

There is a tree.

With lots of red leaves.

One person stands to take a picture.

Another person arrives.

Then another.

Others notice a bunch of people standing taking a picture and assume it is a good shot, so then they all go over and jockey for the perfect spot. Here are some of ours:

This one's for you Judy - "socks drying - the next generation"
to be continued................................