Sun-dried Tomato-Brocoli-Basil Pasta Topped with Fresh Tomatoes and Spinach

Obviously I have gotten bored with posting japan photos.  So... I'll be posting the food I make.  Mostly so I can remember and make it again. This week... pasta! we have a bunch so I'm using it.  Hopefully it will go away soon so I can make something else soon.

Lots of basil!  Also some sautéed spinach

Everything is better with beer.

Stop Three - Matsumoto

Took another train up to Matsumoto. Lots of mountains, forested with steep gullies and rivers between.

Most of the towns that we passed were farming communities like this.

This is a large room in japan... woot! Another room where you have to activate the lights with your room key.

My window view... there was that chicken wire stuff in the window, hence the fuzzy diamond.

In the middle of the town is this sweet building, right beside the river that runs through the middle of the town.

Everywhere.

Matsumoto has another large castle, this one with a fairly sweet moat.

The moat was filled with lots of fish!

The all come up to see you when you walk by, and sort of open and close their mouths at you asking to be fed.

A neet little piece of oldness in the middle of the city.

These are what train tickets looks like. These are my fare from  Matsumoto  down to Tokyo. You separately buy a ticket to get on the train, and then a 'seat fare' ticket to reserve a seat on the train.

Lunch!

Another view of the mountains, unfortunately one of the best i have as the train goes so fast it messes up pictures.

Lots of cool fog in the mountains. The weather in Matsumoto was drizzly (like most of the areas i went that time of year)

the towns going from Matsumoto to tokyo were on much steeper  terrain, so not as many fields around them.

Some rice (i assume?) once we got down out of the mountains a little bit.

next stop... Tokyo!