Sunday we take off in plenty of time to walk to the Sunjuku railway station, the largest in the world apparently. We had Sussex out some of the lines so used our rail pass for the first trip to Tokyo station. Changing there to the JR national line, we have a comfortable 3 seat row and keep our bags with us. Later we realize you drop them at the back of the train car, which is better when you only have two seat and can't load your bags overhead, too heavy by far. Igt's very light load on both JR trains today. But we have the added challenge of changing trains in Nagoya. But we have about 15 minutes to do so.
It is all very efficient, trains leave on the dot. The train inspector bows before he leaves your carriage, still lots of bowing and scraping here. You are told to switch your phone to silent and not make calls. What a heaven of peace to travel this way. The 1.5 hour then 2.5 hour train rides pass easily enough, the second route taking us up a beautiful River valley into the mountains, which are not as impressive as the Rockies but we get a tiny glance of Mr.Fuji on the first leg of the trip, above the clouds, which dog us completely here. Lovely rural landscapes fly past the window, rice fields and small crops that we look forward to eating soon.
Fighting our way out of the station through a throng of people waiting to get on to return to Nagoya - this is the end of the line - we find a friendly taxi driver, no English but we have the hotel name printed out so a 5 minute ride gets us there.
Into the pleasant little Rickshaw Inn run, surpringly, by a Brit, Nick from Yorkshire. It's more like a glorified hostel but comfortable enough with our own tiny bathroom and a 15 sq.ft room, which is the norm I guess.
It is all very efficient, trains leave on the dot. The train inspector bows before he leaves your carriage, still lots of bowing and scraping here. You are told to switch your phone to silent and not make calls. What a heaven of peace to travel this way. The 1.5 hour then 2.5 hour train rides pass easily enough, the second route taking us up a beautiful River valley into the mountains, which are not as impressive as the Rockies but we get a tiny glance of Mr.Fuji on the first leg of the trip, above the clouds, which dog us completely here. Lovely rural landscapes fly past the window, rice fields and small crops that we look forward to eating soon.
Fighting our way out of the station through a throng of people waiting to get on to return to Nagoya - this is the end of the line - we find a friendly taxi driver, no English but we have the hotel name printed out so a 5 minute ride gets us there.
Into the pleasant little Rickshaw Inn run, surpringly, by a Brit, Nick from Yorkshire. It's more like a glorified hostel but comfortable enough with our own tiny bathroom and a 15 sq.ft room, which is the norm I guess.
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