Summer 2

We arrived in Nikko, had a great meal of yuba soba, and checked in to the turret of the Nikko Park Lodge.

 

Walked around Nikko in the evening in the rain, and took a few photos. 

We also stumbled across what looked like the coolest slide ever (more on that later). When we saw it, L and I were immediately reminded of boxes and boxes of tree-ripened Florida citrus - some of you will understand exactly why...

In the morning, we passed a few sleepy monkeys and went to check out the World Heritage Cultural site of Toshogu and the surrounding area.

        

I had been before, but it was kind of entertaining to try and take different photos than before. (Warning: Anyone planning to visit me in Japan should note that I'm likely going to get tired of going to the same places over and over again, so the people who come sooner might get to see more of the famous places, while the later ones get a more "off the beaten path" kind of tour.)

After the shrines, we went back to the slide, and rode it, first just sitting down (which hurt), then on our feet, which burnt my hands, and finally sitting on my backpack, which worked pretty well! 

The second best playground slide ever! from matthew on Vimeo.

Last, we thought we'd drive up to to Kegon Falls, even if it was raining a bit. Well it rained more, the fog blew in, and we couldn't even see the falls. In hindsight, this was foreshadowing much of our travels (travails?) in Japan! We headed back to Hitachi in a downpour of Biblical proportions, thunder and lightning everywhere. An experience that would soon be quite familiar, though at least this time we had the car!