September 30, 2007 - Sunday

Cloudy, but warm.

A mostly good day. We went to Yamagata yesterday after my work, and arrived at our hotel about 6:30 pm. We checked in and then went to a yakitori shop that Fumihiko's been trying to take me to for ages. It was good, but quite crowded. After an hour or so there I was quite full, and seriously in want of some salad or some kinds of veggies.

I got the "bright" idea that we should go and see a movie, so we walked to a theater of which we knew. The movies that were playing there weren't that interesting, but at their sister theater there was a late show that looked good. So, we hacked around looking for the other theater, found it, but had an hour to kill. We walked to the main shopping street and found a Mosburgers. I had a salad, so I felt virtuous, and then we walked back to the theater. We went to see Miss Potter, which was quite good. I especially liked the supporting cast...Emily Watson is always great. The scenery of the Lake District was wonderful.

We walked back to the hotel room after the movie, hitting a convenience store along the way. We got back to our hotel room and had a relaxing evening together.

This morning we got up around 10, I showered, and then we checked out of the hotel. We couldn't leave the car in the hotel's parking while we ate breakfast, so we had to leave. We went to Bikkuri Donkey for brunch. It was a good choice, and we enjoyed it. There isn't one of those restaurants in Tsuruoka, so we usually go there when we're in Yamagata.

After Brunch, we drove to the Art Museum. We had some trouble finding the free parking, but managed to get the last spot. Score! We went in and had a look around. We were there to see Marc Chagall's lithograph series. They were wonderful. I need to do some research about the story behind them, but the pictures themselves were amazing. His use of colour was vibrant and passionate. Sadly, the rest of the museum was quite boring today. They had 3 floors of Japanese calligraphy up. Now, sometimes it can be very beautiful. Even though I don't read kanji, the brush strokes can be powerful, and I can enjoy the feelings I get when I see them. Sadly for me, those were not what was on offer. These were poems or life mottos rather than one or two words. They were boring to look at. These were on all three floors of the museum. We did see a few nice sculptures, and we had some coffee at the coffee shop. Definitely worth seeing for the Chagall's though.

We drove around trying to get the way out of town, and I thought to go home. But, after a few minutes Fumihiko said he wasn't taking me home yet. Instead we drove to Yamadera. It's a temple in the mountains. We didn't go all the way up the mountain, we just looked at the lower buildings, but they were beautiful. Fumihiko wanted to go all the way up, but as I saw it, it was after 4 when we got there, he was wearing new shoes (not really walking ones either) and we were a little tired. It would have been dark before we got back down the mountain and I didn't want to risk it. Fumihiko's back has been really bad this weekend, so I think I made the right decision. However, we're thinking about coming again in a couple of weeks, so maybe we'll give it a try then.

We had some konnyaku and then an ice cream each, I had a pear flavoured one, Fumihiko chose sesame, then got back into the car and drove off. We needed gas, which we got, and then started on our way home. That's when it all went wrong. It was close to 6 pm by now, and we hadn't eaten a proper meal in 5 or so hours. It would take us about 2 hours to get home. We'd be starving by the time we got back home. I suggested that we go for a meal, Fumihiko agreed and then a few minutes later went onto the highway. Between Yamagata and Tsuruoka there aren't any restaurants on the highway, at least not ones that I'll eat at. I was ticked off to say the least. He offered to get off the highway, but that costs money so we didn't do it. The drive home was quite tense.

When we got to Tsuruoka he drove directly to his favourite izakaya for our dinner. I like it, but I wanted to use a clean washroom first, maybe take my stuff out of the car too. We went in and he ordered a bunch of stuff. He had asked me what I wanted and I told him I'd order for myself, but when he was done, he sent the waitress away. I wasn't best pleased. We continued to fight for the rest of dinner, then we came home. He went off to his house for a couple of hours, then came back home. Things have gotten much better over the last couple of hours so it's okay.

You know, I usually make sure I have some kind of protein snack with me when we do these trips because Fumihiko is famous for not stopping for meals, but we left right after my work on Saturday and I didn't think about it in time. Sigh.

Overall, the trip was worth it. Yamadera was gorgeous and I'd love to see it when the trees change colour. And the Chagall exhibition was great too. I certainly got my culture fix this weekend!

Night night!