Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture
Hidden treasures close by always leave me slapping my head thinking “Why haven’t I visited here before?” … but so do mosquitoes around a re-hab center.
Only a 3 hour drive from where I live; Matsumoto in my guide book is described as:
The city has a somewhat lazy, dishevelled feel to it, though the coming of the 1998 Winter Olympics will probably force the people to spruce things up a bit.
Hey! those “lonely planet” books are expensive!
The city has a fascination with frogs for some reason.
Matsumoto Castle is one of the Top 3 Castles in Japan. I’ve visited the other 2: Himeji and Kumamoto before.
I didn’t mean to, things just happen like that to me.
Built in 1504 and completed in 1614, it’s pretty old. It was scheduled for the scrap heap when the Meiji Restoration period was in full swing; but some locals thought that would suck, so the city bought it … and the rest is history … but so is the past.
Why was it called the “Meiji Restoration” when they went around wrecking and tearing old stuff down? Stupid Meiji Restoration!
The castle somehow looks better in black and white.
I took this photo from one of the sniper windows, while slowly … ever so slowly … winding, shuffling, and climbing my way to the top of the castle, in my socks and everything!
Those are all the people who joined the line after I joined the line.
The castle looks like it has 5 floors, but there are really 6: one is secret. (you’re going to have to scroll back up to check this out, because I don’t have any more photos of it)
From what I saw Matsumoto looked like a very nice city, but with limited time before joining the final traffic jam of the trip there wasn’t time to explore anything else. I’ll definitely go back again.
And that was the end of this year’s Golden Week adventure.
Another vacation packed away in a can along with all the other vacation memories in my head.
note: arriving home it was all the usually post-trip stuff: laundry, lawn mowing, photos, milk purchases, and distributing the obligatory omiyage (souvenirs) to my neighbour and co-workers.