Short Local Trip

Took a little trip out of town to the suburbs last weekend for some much needed break from the city.

Stayed in a traditional inn (ryokan) for the first night there. I can't really remember when was the last time we stayed at a ryokan. I'm guessing 4 years ago?

Absolutely wonderful ryokan we had chosen.

When we reserved our room earlier last week, I kind of just left a note at the memo column indicating that I do not take meat or fish dishes, so if possible it would be great if they could remove the meat and fish from my meals and perhaps just replace them with some more vegetables. Never did I expect that they went all out to arrange a special menu for me entirely, matching the normal menu one-for-one as much as possible.

And the meals were absolutely delicious.

The ryokan was not too crowded when we were there too, which I assume was partly due to the off-peak timing and partly because of COVID, so I could take my own sweet time enjoying and relaxing in the onsen - once before dinner, once after dinner, once after breakfast.

Spent the second day (and the third day) with our relatives living in that area, and crashed at their place for the second night. Our relatives are a cheerful bunch, and take things slow and easy with optimism. Really wonderful time spent there with them. Kind of felt so much more positive about things just being around them.

Also, I last met their cat, who was adopted from my ex-vice principal, 5 years ago when he just joined their family. He's much bigger now, and is still such a friendly fluffball. Greeted us in the morning, played with us, showed us his tummy for belly rubs..and never once did he bite or claw us. What a stark difference from the furball I have at home - I am sure to get bitten at least once a day. I'm guessing (and hoping) this is her way of showing affection to us?

Though there is one little issue with their cat - seems like he is wary of big black cameras. The moment I took out my camera he started running away. Sigh. Could only manage to take a handful of shots of him.

Anyway, it is grape season over there now, and my love for shine muscats could not be contained. That juiciness. That gentle grape flavors. That sweet, delicious nectar exploding in the mouth. Totally awesome. I cannot count how many shine muscats I had consumed in my time over there. And that's not including the 3 extra bunches we bought and brought back to Tokyo.

We left on the evening of our third day there, feeling totally revitalized, and stuffed as well from all the eating.

All in all, wonderful and fulfilling trip.