Summer holidays - part two

On Tuesday afternoon we drove to Misasa, a town famous (well, around here) for its hot springs rich in radium. I know that doesn't really sound like a good thing but apparently taking the waters is indeed good for you. Years ago I went to Misasa every year for a teaching assistants conference, which always ended up with lots of drunk assistants trying out the mixed open-air bath at the side of the river, visable from the road bridge. Oh, did I mention naked?

No such rowdiness this time I'm afraid. We stayed at a nice Japanese style inn next to the river, and went for a walk along the river before dinner. Here's the hotel:

and here's K examining each and every stone and leaf he found on the way:


My main job was to gratefully accept his gifts of stones and leaves and to try to prevent him eating them...

Our room at the hotel was traditional Japanese style, meaning that it had tatami mats on the floor and no furniture except for a low table (oh, and a fridge and TV. There's a limit to traditional nowadays). The room had its own toilet and wash-basin, but no bath or shower. Instead, guests use the communal hot-spring baths (separate ones for men and women) on the ground floor. We ate our dinner in the dining room downstairs but for an additional fee we could have had it served to us in our room. While we were eating, futons were laid out in our room.

This brings us to the one concern I had about our little trip. At home we sleep 'Western style', meaning that H and I share a bed and K sleeps in a cot. But at the hotel we would all 3 be sleeping next to one another on the floor, with nothing to stop K moving freely around the room. How on earth would we get him to sleep?

Well, we were lucky. K settled down in his sleeping bag as usual and fell asleep after only one escape attempt. We were even able to have the room lights on after he fell asleep and enjoy a relaxing beer - good thing we had that fridge, eh?