Ise and Oizu Bay

After lunch on Saturday in Kyoto, we did a small walking tour and then took a local train to Ise. In Ise we stayed at a very traditional Japanese hotel. Our friend from Nagoya joined us for this adventure so we had a girls room and guys room. The guys room had a personal Japanese onsen on the balcony. The onsen is a hot spring bath, but a lot of them are public where you put on your birthday suit and enjoy the bath in the company of others. However, since we had a private one, we each got to enjoy it in private! It was so nice. I did not get all the way in because of the little p-nut inside, but I did let my legs relax and it was lovely. I wish I had my camera at breakfast - we had fish, miso soup, rice, a barely cooked hard boiled egg and other traditional Japanese dishes. Needless to say, we found a McD's for lunch.

In Ise we went to the Jinju shrine. This is one of the most important shrines in Japan, and if you are Japanese you are supposed to make a pilgrimage to this shrine at some point in your lifetime. This place is like a shopping mall of gods. Come visit anytime. From there we hopped in our car and traveled to Oizu. Opah came to Japan in 1959 to help build a Christian camp in Oizu. We found the campsite where he spent the summer at, and he really enjoyed walking around and re-living those summer days. After visiting, we headed to back to Nagoya and dropped the car off. We also said goodbye to our friend and headed back to Tokyo.

We spent a lot of time on the train but it was well worth it. We got to see a lot, and I really enjoyed seeing the mountains and greenery. It was beautiful countryside and it was nice to be out of the hustle and bustle of the big city.

Nana and Opah leave tomorrow. We are all really sad to see them go. It has been such a treat having them visit. We are so thankful for them and how they have taken us into their family even though we are not "blood" related. We will miss you Nana and Opah!