Thursday, May 29, 2008
Local attractions....
I wanted to take my parents to see Mt. Fuji, but Sunday turned out to be just as cloudy as Saturday so I had to come up with something else. In my own town, the only real tourist attraction is the Fruits Park, but it’s not really all that exciting and we'd have to take a taxi to get to it. Instead, I decided we'd go somewhere I'd never been, but had always wanted to go to. The wine cave in Katsunuma. Basically you pay a fee, get a sippy cup, and then can drink all the wine you want with 150 different options available. Of course, my dad was all for this idea.
It was easier to get there than I thought. We just hopped on a train to Katsunuma and then took a taxi to the 'cave'. There is also a restaurant, hotel, shop, and BBQ place there as well. When we got out of the taxi, I wasn't exactly sure where to head and while we were standing around looking confused, a group of people who were sitting near this picnic type area called us over. Turns out they were a group of tennis players from Kanagawa and quite a few of them had decent English. They shared some wine and Costco cornbread with us and asked us the standard set of questions. 'Where are you from,' How long have you been in Japan,' Do you like Japanese food,' and the like. When they found out we were from Colorado two of them in particular were really excited as they used to import wheat from Denver to Japan. After a bit of chatting the tennis group headed out and we went to find some food.
We ate at the restaurant that was there. It was a fairly fancy and expensive place, but the view was really nice and the food was really good. A lot of meat options as well. After getting our fill it was off to taste some wine. While my dad and I are big wine fans, my mom isn't. I was a bit worried that she might not like it all that much, but she managed to find one wine in particular that she really liked. A sweet white that tasted more like juice than wine. Even I decided to pick up a bottle of it. She got two.
After that, it was back home for some rest and then we went to the local izakaya for dinner. My mom had been craving french fries and the izakaya has the best beer batter fries I've had since coming to Japan. They also have an excellent bacon wrapped tomato skewer. Yum!
It was easier to get there than I thought. We just hopped on a train to Katsunuma and then took a taxi to the 'cave'. There is also a restaurant, hotel, shop, and BBQ place there as well. When we got out of the taxi, I wasn't exactly sure where to head and while we were standing around looking confused, a group of people who were sitting near this picnic type area called us over. Turns out they were a group of tennis players from Kanagawa and quite a few of them had decent English. They shared some wine and Costco cornbread with us and asked us the standard set of questions. 'Where are you from,' How long have you been in Japan,' Do you like Japanese food,' and the like. When they found out we were from Colorado two of them in particular were really excited as they used to import wheat from Denver to Japan. After a bit of chatting the tennis group headed out and we went to find some food.
We ate at the restaurant that was there. It was a fairly fancy and expensive place, but the view was really nice and the food was really good. A lot of meat options as well. After getting our fill it was off to taste some wine. While my dad and I are big wine fans, my mom isn't. I was a bit worried that she might not like it all that much, but she managed to find one wine in particular that she really liked. A sweet white that tasted more like juice than wine. Even I decided to pick up a bottle of it. She got two.
After that, it was back home for some rest and then we went to the local izakaya for dinner. My mom had been craving french fries and the izakaya has the best beer batter fries I've had since coming to Japan. They also have an excellent bacon wrapped tomato skewer. Yum!
