Let's straight go to the next travel entry!
I left Tokyo via highway bus. It took almost 6h to get to Takayama. Once we entered Nagano Prefecture there was suddenly quite some snow. Something I couldn't imagine coming from Tokyo where it was quite nice with sunshine and no snow at all.
The further we went, the colder it got. Once we arrived in Hida Takayama everything was covered in snow like WOAH!!! Not just a little bit but some meters of snow on the streets, the trees and everywhere!
It's not like I've never seen so much snow (actually we tend to have even more back home at times), but it was the first time in Japan, so I was really surprised!
It was already night when I arrived at my hotel. I barely made it, because the snow on the streets made it impossible for me to drag my luggage. At least my hotel there had an onsen (*__*) Paradise!~
And in places where it snows that much and where it gets quite cold they seem to have better insulation and they do have central heating it seems!! Thus far I thought they only have that in Hokkaido
During my long bus drive I found out that at that time keikazama was also in Takayama and I really wanted to meet her , but yet again we didn't manage in the end ;____; Too bad!

Although I arrived on the 1st of January I just dropped dead into my bed and so let's start with the next morning:

Takayama - Day 1 (January 2nd 2011):



The next morning there wasn't that much snow anymore. It also stopped snowing during night it seems.
However, it was EXTREMELY cold!! (x___X)



Some shops and restaurants had snowmen or cool ice sculptures! It was definitely cold enough so they wouldn't melt anyways!





Random picture to give you an impression of the amount of snow that day.



Very early in the morning I was one of the first to visit Hida Kokubunji Temple.



The cool thing about it was that there was everything full of "sarubobo" lucky charms! I really fell in love with those during my last summer vacation in Gifu.
And this time I bought a few more to add to my collection ^-^



The huge ones are especially cool! You can also buy those in souvenir shops, but those were just too big and heavy for me to carry around ;)
The standard color is red, but they have sarubobos in many colors. Each color will help you in a different category such as studies, love, health etc. ^-^





It was extremely cold and at that time there was nobody but me! Sometimes it's good to be the only crazy one to get up so early and start sightseeing early XD
I passed by that temple later again just to see that most of the snow was gone!!! It looked so much better in this photo with a lot of snow :D



Small 3-storied pagoda.



I told you that they have snowmen and ice sculptures almost everywhere!! Expect some more photos later on as well (^-^)b



Interesting color mix! :)



That's REALLY a lot of snow .... for Japan ... for my idea of Japanese winter ... ^-^;



Saying goodbye to the sarubobos! (^-^)/



A lot of attractions can easily be reached on foot! There's also a tourist bus, but even in winter it was no problem to walk from one thing to another! Also, there's these cool direction infos on the pavement, so no problem at all!! ^-^
You can get walking maps in many different languages (they had German as well!) at the tourist information booth right next to Takayama Station and I highly recommend grabbing one :D



As it was still so early I decided to go back to the station to take a bus out of the city center to go to a great limestone cave!
This photo I took while waiting for the pick-up service! Pretty cool! ^-^
They told me at the tourist information booth that they offer a pick-up service there, so I though I should call them and then they came and picked me up for free!!! :D
They were surprised to see a foreigner as they didn't expect it after hearing only my voice on the phone! XD
With me there was a father with his daughter who also got out of the bus but didn't seem to know about the pick-up service so we stopped halfway to take them with us :D
It was so cold and there was a lot of snow, so I'm glad I didn't have to walk all the way up to the limestone cave!! ^-^;
So, if you ever go there, remember that there's a pick-up service!!! ;)

The people working there are all really nice and helpful :D



The limestone cave was really huge! A lot of things to discover! It was just REALLY difficult to take photos inside! I used both my cameras and played around a bit, but that's the best I could get out of it, so I apologize for the quality of the following photos! m(_ _)m



It was extremely cold and humid in those caves, but also extremely interesting! I took too much time inside again - mainly because I was playing around with my camera XD



They also had different light effects everywhere, which looked quite cool as well! :)





Crappy close-up.









I'm not exactly sure if you can actually see it on the photos, but those walls were HUGE!!!!



The text says "Buddha's ear". Can you see it? XD



In the exit area there was this small shrine with a huuuuuuuuuuuge .... pe...phallus!



The text says that it's the best in whole Japan and if you touch it (as guy) you'll be blessed with children and fortune ... XD



Japan actually has quite a few of those, there are even pen ... phallus festivals and all :D



However, the coolest thing about the limestone cave was actually what it looked like OUTSIDE!!!!
Isn't that absolutely fu***** awesome???!!! (*____*)b
It felt like I'm in Narnia the Ice Kingdom or something!



As I was really fascinated I took like .... many photos (*__*) ...







Too many photos!!!



Well, although I'm used to icicles, I've never seen so many together!!
How about you?





And that wall of icicles was really some hundred meters long!!!



In front of the cave entrance there was another small shrine.



And this huge nabe pot is actually not just for decoration!



They actually use it during a festival!



Snow and icicles. Waiting for the pick-up service to bring us back to the bus stop :)



Back at the bus stop. The father and his daughter also came back at the same time as me.
The bus was supposed to come any minute, but didn't show up. We waited for a looooooooong time when finally the father started talking to me.
He already heard me speaking Japanese earlier, so I think he felt comfortable enough.
We talked a lot. He told me that he's from Aichi and every winter he goes on vacation with his daughter around here because there's so much snow here and almost no snow in Aichi.
His daughter was actually half Japanese, half Brazilian. I couldn't tell at all. For some reason all Japanese-Brazilian people I've met so far look just ... Japanese :D
I had a really long and nice conversation with both of them which also helped to endure the long waiting time in the cold :)



While waiting I also took a photo of a small shrine on the opposite side of the street.



Back in the center of Takayama.
Stone statue in a tree. I was back at the temple I visited in the morning.



Slowly the sun was also coming out and I was walking while my walking map showed me the way.



Some funky fashion shop! XD



Walking over a huge bridge with ... interesting statues on both sides.





Random shot. Me loves cats! ^-^



Thought this was cute. It was in front of a private house saying that cars shouldn't be parked there / shouldn't stop there.



My next destination was the Sakurayama Hachimangu Shrine which is right next to the Takayama Festival Floats Exhibition Hall.



Getting closer to the actual shrine. Actually it was really dangerous to walk under those shrine gates as snow kept falling down from them! A few people got hit by snow, I was lucky that day, though ^-^;





A priest and a miko. They were blessing a car. It was actually the first time I saw something like that. Quite interesting :)
I guess around New Years you'll see things like that more often anyways :)



Pictures on the ceiling of a wooden building on the shrine grounds.





The main shrine facility.



Again loads of snow!



This time people line up to get their yearly(?!) blessings ^-^;



The obligatory horse as it can be found in all Hachimangu shrines.
I'm still not entirely sure why most Tenmangu shrines have cows and most Hachimangu shrines have horses. I REALLY want to know.
If you have any idea, please let me know! (^^') ...



What Takayama is famous for is its festivals (twice a year in April and October). It's said to be one of the most beautiful festivals in Japan!
When there's no festival the Matsuri floats are kept in the Takayama Festival Floats Exhibition Hall!



I've been to float exhibition halls before and whenever I see those colorful floats it makes me wanna see the actual festival, but the ones in Takayama were really impressive!
I wish I would live a bit closer so that I could see the festival live once :/



Close-up. So many beautiful details!







Next to the exhibition hall, still on the shrine grounds was also an exhibition of a miniature Nikko!!!
Everybody who's been to Nikko knows how beautiful and detailed everything is. Seeing those very detailed miniatures was awesome!!



Almost exactly like the original!!





Next I made a short detour to the Betsuin Temple.



On my way back. There's this really huge shrine gate right next to the river at the Miyamae Bridge. This gate already belongs to the shrine I've been to earlier!



Random shots while walking alongside the river.
Told you!!!! :P



A lot of old houses, souvenir shops etc. everywhere (*____*)/Byebye money!!~



Or maybe you want to take a rikshaw tour with a huge sarubobo?? XD



The narrow streets with old houses and restaurants/shops were really lovely (and full of people!).



This red bridge is quite famous as the festival floats roll over it twice a year :)



Next, I went to the Takayama Jinya. It once served as local government office.



They had some interesting things inside as well.





May I introduce to you the latest Takayama fashion?! It will keep you warm in winter!! (x_X) ..





Torture instruments!! (x___X'') ...



Here a very visual demonstration of how they worked (x_X)



Discovered even more snowmen outside XD



Went back in direction of the station (where my hotel was located as well) - over the red bridge again. It was slowly getting dark!



As it was getting dark is seems that they slowly gathered to keep war .. ah .. cold! :D



I also came across the Takayama Showa Hall (displaying items from the Showa Era (1926-1989)).
It looked really interesting from the outside, but with 500yen entrance fee and only a few minutes to go until closing time, I decided to skip it :/
I'm also born in the Showa period, makes me feel old! ;o; ....



I think I took this photo in the Takayama City Memorial Hall (entrance was free!).



And it was really getting dark now!



I went back to the more lively shopping streets but even there most shops were about to close.
Found another snowman dude! XD



At some point it was so cold that I couldn't stand staying outside anymore. It was time for a (really!!) yummie dinner :D
Ramen with a lot of yummie meat and as I was really hungry I got a set with rice as well. The amount was perfect! Exactly what I needed to get strength back and to warm my frozen body up again ^-^



I also bought some snacks on my way home so that I could eat some after entering my hotel's onsen! (*___*)b



I dontto supiiku Engirishu!~



They had an actual normal heater in there as well!!!! (*___*) First time I saw something like this in Japan!!! (*___;)



And that's it!! Next up will be my second day in Takayama (only until noon) and my trip to Shirakawago for the rest of that day.
Hope you're looking forward to it. Takayama was only place 3 out of 10 places that I went to during my winter vacation. That means we have 7 more to go!! Yay!!~

Thanks a lot for reading!
Comments are appreciated.