When we arrived in Gifu City we realized how good we have it up in Takayama - it was HOT. Really hot and so so humid. In fact, the other JETs there said it was the worst they had experienced since they arrived. We were a bit early for the walking tour (like, 2 hours) so we got some lunch at a local hamburger chain called Mos Burger. I made the mistake of getting a hot dog, which looked like no hot dog I've ever seen O_o I didn't take a pic of it though, sorry. We decided afterwards to wander Gifu, and try to maybe find a department store or something since we were both in desperate need of things like alarm clocks. I had yet to actually need once since the jet lag had me waking up by 6 every day, but I knew that was shortly going to wear off as I got acclimated. Gifu City is quite large, not nearly as big as Tokyo or Osaka, but still much bigger than Takayama and even after only a week in the mountains it felt strange to be surrounded by so many buildings. It was so uncomfortable outside though that we only lasted about 20 mins before we took refuge back in the train station, and lo and behold, there was a department store! And I found a clock! Fabulous.
After that little jaunt we ended up in a grocery store in the station and hung around the frozen food section. Because it was cool ^__^ Literally. And got a nice glimps of some stuff I don't think I am quite ready to eat.
mmmm. octopus.
Finally around 2 we met up with the rest of the group, and got to meet up with many of the new JETs that I met back in Tokyo, which was nice. Being way up in the Hida region we are pretty removed from everyone else. We went on a walking tour of the city, which I have to admit I kind of regretted at the time. It was HOT, I was sweating, and lets face it, I'm not going to be in Gifu often enough to care where any of this stuff is. I will admit though that Kyle managed to catch a later train from Takyama than the one Theresa and I took, and met up with us while we were on the tour, and I was impressed by that. Anyway, some pics of Gifu City
"US Land", where for a set rate per 15 or 20 mins you get to run around inside and play games and stuff they have in there. Lots of American things apparently, lol
After the tour we still had a lot of time before the festival so we all crammed in to this local bar. I made a point of getting a seat at a table in the back where the a/c sort-of could be felt. There were so many of us though that a lot of people ended up sitting outside and that just had to suck.
Theresa met up with some friends she had made prior to our departure, Colleen, Kim, and her husband Eric, with whom we ended up staying that night. Since they are married they have a bigger place and can accomodate guests. We called it the palace, lol
Colleen, Theresa, and Paul, the Brit who made the fatal mistake of claiming to read katakana and was therefore made our menu-reader. It took seriously like a half an hour to figure it out, heh heh
At the bar/restaraunt, I had probably the most expensive tiny coffee I've ever purchased, 600 yen and like a short champaign glass of coffee, lol. Mom would have loved it - it was very strong. Also got a little pizza and a piece of cake to split with Theresa and Colleen.
The walk to where the fireworks festival was sooooooo long. Miles, I'm sure. About halfway there I started chatting with Paul, and we talked the whole way to the river where the fireworks were. In fact, we were talking so much that we weren't paying attention to the group and got separated from everyone! I got pretty worried because I was supposed to stay with Kim and Eric and I had no way of contacting them without a cell phone or anything. Although honestly, if you're going to get lost with someone, a friendly English guy with beer is definetly the way to go ^__^
We spent the next hour or so, maybe hour and a half trying to find about 20 non-Japanese people in this crowd
I had basically given up hope of ever finding them, and to be honest we kept getting distracted when we should have been looking. First I got some pineapple on a stick, we hit the bathrooms (and yes the women's line in Japan is twice the wait of the men's, it's a global phenomenon), drank some beer... sweat a lot...
It was so humid out - I couldn't believe it when I took this picture, but there was no water spray or anything happening, that's literally water IN THE AIR refelecting in the picture
So we just kept wandering, checking out the festival stalls
And then the fireworks started
They were AMAZING. Huge! And they went on for over an hour! I can't imagine how much money they spent on it.
And then, in a stroke of either sheer brilliance or just dumb luck, Paul noticed a bunch of flags, which is where they had said everyone would meet up if we got separated. But it was all the way down at the end of the stalls and we hadn't seen them when we were wandering over by the bridge. And then, in what was definetely sheer luck, we ran into this Irish guy we had been sitting with at the bar, who pointed us in the right direction to find everyone! And if we hadn't met him we would have never found them as they were not anywhere near the main walking path.
After we met up with everybody again, those of us planning to stay in Mino Ota with Kim and Eric decided to head out early to avoid the crowd and get a head start on the long walk back to the station. So I said goodbye to Paul and off we went on our long-ass trek. We timed it perfectly, we got to see all of the fireworks on our way back and then just as we crossed the bridge on the other side the show ended. And for the next 45 mins we walked and walked and walked back to the station. And I was the only one who could speak any Japanese, so we all know how well that went, lol
Mino Ota is about a half hour north of Gifu City, and on the train there I got a wonderful shot of some Engrish signage!
Colleen and Kim on the train
We stayed with Kim and Eric, and then the next morning all headed to the local department store where there is a Mr. Donut for breakfast. And I got a Mr. Donut card ^__^ Then Theresa, Colleen, and I headed to the train station to catch our respective rides home. And it is a HIKE to get from Kim and Eric's to that station, lemme tell ya.
Kim and Eric in "the palace"
It's big, but they didn't have any appliances yet or anything as their predecessors were still living in their old apartment. So a bit bare for now, though they were supposed to get their stuff that afternoon. The inside is nice, but the outside of the place looks like a communist block, lol. The statement "every situation is different" really is the tag-line of JET. I love my apartment ^_^
For the ride back to Takayama, Theresa and I opted for the local, which takes longer but costs about half of what the express does. Plus, since we were already starting out north of Gifu City it made more sense than going back there to catch it. The ride was beautiful, and it's not like we had plans or anything. And the best part is, the local train stops in Miya! So we could just get off and head right over to my apartment. heh heh
so pensive...
After we got back, Theresa headed back to Akigami and I spent the rest of the day cleaning and doing laundry. Typical Sunday afternoon stuff.
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