Backlog extravaganza

The couple of few days have been filled with so much fun that I hardly even had time to post anything, sorry about that.

Well I left Nagoya in the morning of 21st (Friday) and took the highway buss strait to Toyama. We stopped only a couple of times and I had my delicious Bento, boxed Japanese lunch, in the bus.

The Daibutsu in the background 

When I finally arrived I had to find my host, Yoshimi, somewhere there. I had informed her with a text message that I was at Toyama station so she started to come there from Takaoka where she had been waiting. There had been a little misunderstanding but no biggies, we managed to find each other so all is well.

Yoshimi was hosting at the same time a English/Italian couch surfer so he came also with her t pick me up.
We then went to take a little rest at Yoshimis house before the evenings party. Yes PARTY!!!
Oh and we also went to see the Takaoka Daibutsu, big Buddha.
It was so amazing since as we were there, the kind lady monk came and offered to show me how to ring the large bell. So that we did, gladly ! It was an amazing experience.

Afterwards we went back to Yoshimis house where we talked for a while and drank coffee and then we left for the Party with Yoshimi, her daughter, daughters friend and there were already a lot of people at the party location which was a popular Izakaya.
It was SO GREAT !!!! We feasted on traditional as well as foreign influenced Japanese food and drank beers, sake, whisky, you name it!

We got pretty hammered I'll admit but nothing that we could not handle.
We then drove back to her house and had an "after party". We had bought some beers at the convenience store and sat down to drink and chat. I think I had stayed up until 4 a.m. until i went to sleep.

At the park

Next day I woke up at 11 a.m. feeling just fine, haha, so no hangover for me.
It was a really sunny day so I wish I had remembered to take my sunglasses with me when I wen to Kanazawa.

Yoshimi drove me to the Takaoka station where I took the train to Kanazawa to meet Yoshimis friend there who was going to show me around a bit in Kanazawa.

We went to a park and ate at a really good Italian style restaurant. I ordered the amazing eggplant pasta set, I mean, god it was good.

After finishing eating I got the unique chance to go and see inside a old Japanese house. I will underline it is not a local sightseeing spot, it's not open for public, just a house but it was a really old wooden one.

The old resident of this house had just passed away last year and her daughter was taking care of the house and she showed us around.

The old house

It was her fathers house and her father had lots of old stuff she was organizing. She had also donated to some museums already some of the stuff since her father had a habit of not throwing away things. So there was a lot of interesting things to see and learn about the life in Japan long a go and how it changed.

The most amazing thing was that I received a small sake set from her, since she wanted to get rid of the overflow of stuff at the house. But wait it gets better, the porcelain was Kutani yaki.

some old matchboxes 

For those who don't know what it is (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kutani_ware) check out this link, but in short they are really well known around here and are apparently pretty valuable, and they gave them to me for free! It was just such a kind thing to do.

Anyways, we checked around a lot of stuff and then we left with Yoshimis friend to go to the Kenroku-en park and the Kanazawa castle grounds, we did not visit the castle though.
The park is one of the most famous parks in Japan out of three, and I could totally see why. It was so amazingly beautiful, and would be perfect place for a picnic or just having a hot cup of tea in the shadow.

Outside of the Kanazawa castle 

I am so in love with these Japanese gardens! They ooze with beauty and if it just had been spring or fall it would have been even more amazing since those times there are the cherry or plum blossoms in the trees.

After that we quickly took a stroll through the Kanazawa castle grounds. It was cool but it is a shame that it was still under renovation in some parts. But still very beautiful.

We then started to slowly return to Takaoka, but this time I got a lift to Takaoka where I was to meet Rikako, Yoshimis daughter.
Together we went shopping for some food and when we came back I made some Finnish food, macaroni casserole. It turned out good so I was relieved.

I then waited alone at the house for a couple hours to get some company from Yoshimis friends, since she was away attending to some business somewhere and is coming back today (23.6.).

So yes we sat and drank some beers and had fun chatting and listening to music.

Today I'll go to Tokyo and I'll do my best to keep everything on schedule, If there is ANYTHING you would like me to film or blog about leave a comment down below or go to my YouTube channel and leave a comment there ( http://www.youtube.com/user/TravelersPOV ) Also check out my DAILY videos!

Cheers
Robert