Takayama-Photos and everything

Hello.
Autumn has arrived, sight-seeing has recommenced, I am back! Today is a national holiday in Japan so we don't have to go to work! It's the autumn equinox and is a day to celebrate and honour ancestors. Right on cue the temperature has dropped. Last night I was cold cycling to and from work-not chilly but cold and I was wearing a jacket!
We planned to get up early as we'd had such varying reports on journey times to Takayama; from 2 to 4 hours. As it was we both woke up at 6am and decided to get up and go. The sun had just risen and as we drove through the mountains we reached parts still slightly dim as they waited for the sun to reach above the shadows of opposing peaks. As we neared Takayama we could see clouds nestling in the mountains below us. It turned out to take less than 2 hours at that time in the morning and using the toll roads.
We arrived to dark clouds and a chilly wind as we walked along the river to the centre of the city. We arrived through a giant Torra gate at the otherside of a bridge and were greeted by the morning markets. As we got further into the winding old style streets the shops were still unopened and only a few other eager tourists mingled about. We had coffee and Jasmine tea at a traditional wooden coffee house and Takayama woke up around us. It was amazing to see the difference when we found our way back to those streets later in the afternoon-they were packed with tourists and rickshaws.
We strolled around some Temples, across many pretty bridges where Weeping Willow trees blew about in the breeze. The sun came out and was pleasantly warming-a sensation I had forgotten. We had lunch (pretty early) in a lovely travellers cafe with guest books on the tables and postcards on the walls. We ordered pancakes and they came with a friend egg, bacon, tomatoes, fried potato, a lovely salad with a smokey dressing and parmasan cheese as well as crisps  and homemade Italian style bread on the side!
We strolled more shops and Temples in the afternoon before heading back to Seki. It felt like a real holiday day-I'm not sure if it was the effect of an extra day off of work or the cool weather.

 The tora gate at eigth thirty am-I don't know why Mike looks super-imposed-he was really there.

 One of the many Japanese flags flying today.

 Another beautiful river shot!

 Temple gates.

 A huge bell that we watched a monk ring at midday.

 Just to prove it's cool-a jacket and a scarf and I was cold!