Matsumoto

After making arrangement to courier our bags to Tokyo, we left JHoppers to catch a bus to Matsumoto....and let me tell you.....the journey was awesome! It was by far the best journey ever....and I'm glad I planned for it ^^

The sceneries are beautiful....with Japanese Alps right in front of you throughout the journey....and I actually saw people skiing at one point! Here's some of the pictures we took throughout the bus journey....

The rest area where we stopped for about 1o minutes.....

I highly recommended for those travelling between Takayama to Matsumoto or vise versa to take the bus ride....it was splendid!!

Reached Matsumoto around noon and straight checked in at Iidaya Hotel, located next to JR Matsumoto Station....after freshening up.......we decided to explore the Town and visit Matsumoto Castle.....since its not far from the hotel......

What I like most about Japan cities are that there would always be river going through them.... the local council would make the river bank properly managed so that it gives a good vibes to the whole city/town ambience.....and I like that ^^

As we were heading toward the castle, the main streets are lined with lots of interesting shop...and the one caught my eyes was this souvenir shop....want to know why???? Because it got lots and lots of temari balls...in all colours... and sizes.....and since they are soooo expensive... all I can do was snapping their pictures....

After browsing through a few shops...we finally reached Matsumoto Castle.....the weather was perfect....from a far, Matsumoto looks not as grand as Himeji Castle.....but surprisingly I had more fun here that at Himeji Castle ^^













Matsumoto Castle with the Japanese Alps at the background....it was awesome....Matsumoto Castle is dark in colour but with the nice weather....the pictures that we captured actually show the castle as a bit of dark bluish....it was beautiful ^^

Matsumoto Castle in its splendid glory!!!

The first thing you'll see upon entering the gate..then as you go around the corner....there it is.....THE CASTLE.....its beautiful, right !? I did not expect to find a castle comparative to Himeji Castle....but Matsumoto prove me wrong!

We went inside the castle...and here's some of the views from inside.......

Looks like a potrait isn't it!??? My hime sama took lots of pictures here...

Matsumoto Castle basking in the afternoon sunlights......kirei desyo ^^.....and here's the castle looks something that you put on a pedestal. Its actually a real and big castle, you know....hahahaha....not a replica....:)

We just can't seems to get enough of the castle...it was beautiful....and its a perfect day!!!!

Yours truly with the castle!

On the way back to our hotel, we stopped by this small lane with small shops at both side and had a taiyaki.....it was the best taiyaki we tasted.....

Stopped by a kimono shop....bought one green kimono for my sis (JPY3500) and one haori at JPY500.

Further walk towards our hotel....another shop with lots of haori displayed...and guess what!!!....all the haori are priced at JPY500. I was having a difficult times containing my excitement....hahahaha...finally I bought another haori...:P

Matsumoto in the evening! I had another fun day ^^

P/S: There was actually a few places that I wanted to go... like Kochikame and Utsukushigahara but both these places are closed until end of April...zannen desu ga...but it gives me reason to come here again...!!!!....and I decided to skipped the Alps Park, where we were supposed to go the next day due to the time constraint and taking consideration of endurance limit of all my hime sama....but overall, Matsumoto is another must see place^^