It was a travel day. We left our ryokan in Tamatsukurionsen this morning to catch a train to Tsuwano. The train ride took us along the coast (Sea of Japan) and it was without a doubt the prettiest train ride we have been on during our stay. There were times when we were literally looking down from the car into the sea. The mountains in the area come right to the sea and the views are dramatic and quite scenic. Check out the photo below.
We arrived in Tsuwano in the early afternoon. Tsuwano is billed in the travel literature as “Little Kyoto on the Sanin (which is the river that runs through the area). It is definitely smaller and more picturesque than other cities we have visited, although to call it Kyoto is a bit of a stretch (the little part is accurate). It is, though, nestled among the mountains – it reminds me in some respects of a ski town (Aspen, Bourg d’Oisans) without any of the glamour, although I didn’t see any slopes.
Our ryokan (Meigetsu) is on a side street packed into an old neighborhood in Tsuwano. We have a double room (a total of 16 tatami mats, with a really dinky modular bathroom attached). The staff are extremely nice and accommodating, although overall we have continued to “step down” at each leg of our trip in terms of the luxuriousness of our accommodations (although The Peninsula in Tokyo awaits at the end of the line).
We “did the town” this afternoon – there really isn’t a lot here. We had a late lunch, and had difficulty finding a place that was open after 3 o’clock. The place we ended up had the distinction of having the snottiest waitress we have encountered in the country. She just wasn’t very nice and by contrast with the abundantly solicitous service everywhere else, it was definitely noticeable. We went to a museum of the works of M. Annos, who paints water colors and has done illustrations for children’s books as well. The museum was in a gorgeous building built in 2001 – dark wood and clean white walls. Annos had painted many landscapes around the world. There was one of Positano that Andrea wanted to get as a post card to give to Lois. It turns out that the painting in the exhibit was incorrectly marked (it was not Positano), and of course my wife pointed it out. Correcting people the world over – that’s my wife.
Love that woman!
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