Heather at Nanzen-jiAfter Nanzen-ji, Heather and I walked around the gardens at the Westin Kyoto for a bit, then headed back to the room to pack and checkout. The next stop was Hikone. We took a few trains to get there, and it was about 90 minutes or so to get there from Kyoto.
Once in Hikone, we went straight to the Ryokan Hakkeitei. We were met by the owner, who took our bags and gave us a tour. This place was great! However first we wanted to get to Hikone Castle before it closed up for the day.
On the way up to Hikone Castle we saw there was an entrance into the gate to the castle. Not just an entrance through the gate, but I mean to say into the gate. We decided to duck in to take a look, and inside was not what we were expecting. We were first met with a huge model train set that was created to match the town of Hikone. One of the trains running around the track had a wireless camera on it, with a tv monitor nearby so you could watch the view from the train's POV. That was funny to watch when it would come near where you were standing as you felt a little like Godzilla when you saw yourself on tv huge in proportion to the train and set.
Model train display at Hikone Castle Main GateFurther down the hall there was this odd, a little creepy, robot dinosaur they had on display. You were encouraged to pet it, and to watch its reactions. The woman working the display asked where we were from, and we said the US. To which she said "that is where this is made!". I haven't seen this here yet, but maybe they are around?
Hikone Castle was a smaller castle than some of the others we have seen, but still a nice one.
Hikone CastleInside there castle there was some cool wood work that were part of the support structure. Rather than having straight wood beams that have been shaped, they instead used the twists in the wood on purpose. I'm not sure how much support those things actually offer, it may be more decorative, but it was neat to see either way.
Inside Hikone CastleThe tour of the castle was fairly quick. It ended with a quick run through of the gardens which were behind our Ryokan. This concluded our walk perfectly as we ended up right where we started! Onto the cool Ryokan now...this place was built over 300 years ago. It was used by the lords of Hikone Castle to entertain their guests. It is now a Ryokan (like a bed and breakfast), and has been in the same family as a Ryokan for the last 3 generations.
First things first, after getting back indoors it was time to clean up and to change into the appropriate attire.
Jeremy & Heather at RyokanThen time to take a moment to reflect and relax.
Jeremy relaxing at RyokanThen time for dinner. The Ryokan made a very elaborate meal for us, which is outlined on their website. It was probably 8 or 9 courses of food. Being someone who doesn't really eat seafood, it was a challenging meal. It started out pretty straight forward, but then we went into 3 courses of eel, and then onto Sweetfish. In case you haven't seen how that is normally prepared, it looks like this....
Sweetfish dinner course at RyokanThough intimidating, Heather really enjoyed the fish. I however struggled. I made a showing and had almost half of it, but I couldn't finish it. Finally after all of the fish, a beef dish arrived! This was huge for me, and fortunately there were so many courses that the others were pretty full at this point, so they had leftovers on this course which I was happy to finish. After this course they concluded with a dessert and tea.
Once dinner was completed the hostess cleared everything else away, and setup the futon mattresses on the floor where we would sleep that night. In a traditional Ryokan you will eat and sleep in the same room. We got lucky during our stay as we were the only guests, so we got the best rooms which were pretty big. So our rooms actually were like two rooms with a dining area, and a sleeping area. However all of our rooms overlooked the pond and the garden.
Picture of the day - Heather and Ana turning Japanese
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