A night at the temple

Even before arriving at Takayama I was already quite surprised. Although I knew it was up in the mountains I somehow thought the weather will be nice and worm. Silly me! There was still some snow and it was really cold. Once out of the station, we went directly to the tourist information center - only 10 meters away - to find out about accomodation. We picked one among the cheapest. It was an old temple now inhabited by a family. We thought: cool, it's a good experience of traditional Japan. And at first we weren't disappointed. The temple was really rustique, a very surreal atmosphere. However, we soon realised that it was really - and I mean REALLY - cold inside. And it got worse when we tried to take a shower: the bathroom had no heating and no hot water either. Our only option was then to go to bed with our cloth on to keep us warm. So I guess the lesson here is don't stay in temples during the winter!
On a brighter note, Takayama is a very nice city with a lot of character, some beautiful old streets and a few old-style house that you can visite. Plus, the journey in the mountains is worthwile.