Visiting Town and Country

Our intrepid group of travelers visited two contrasting worlds on Thursday, both within five miles of one another, one urban, the other rural.

We first strolled through Takayama’s designated historic district, dominated by three streets of preserved tradional urban shop-residence facades running parallel to the adjacent river. Most of the interiors have been remodeled into contemporary shops and restaurants, making for a great interaction between commerce on the one hand and historic cityscape preservation efforts on the other.  The warm, sunny weather added to the ambiance.  Heidi even shopped a bit as we wandered about the town.

In the afternoon we bused to the outskirts to Hida no Sato, a beautifully sited and arranged selection of authentic traditional residences representative of the various architectural styles of traditional Japanese rural life in the Japan Alps.  The variety is ascribed to climate variation from region to region - steeply patched roofs in Snow Country, thick wooden roofs held in place by heavy river stones in areas subject to torrential rain.  Being outside much of the time was an added bonus, and the Grandkids relished to opportunity to “just run around.”

Late in the day we were back on two trains headed for Kanazawa on the Japan Sea Coast, another soul satisfying day under our collective belt!