By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea

Post by Ella

A big day. It’s April 1 here. Grubb’s 75th birthday and our anniversary (16 years married, together 20). Can we give the old arthritic man a congratulations for accomplishing the Kumano Kodo?

Hotel Urashima, the most famous resort in western Japan. Situated on the Pacific with the waves crashing practically at the doors. A high wave advisory in effect. 

Busy but efficient. A getaway place. Very few Anglo faces. Almost no signage in English, except the tsunami evacuation signs.

At the end of our shrine hopping day yesterday, we boarded a small crowded ferry for the 7 minute ride to the hotel and then followed the herd to the check in queue. A two stop process. Hotel map, dinner and breakfast tickets and WiFi info in hand, we then made our way to the second floor reception desk to get our room keys. We felt lost trying to find the yellow line to follow (it was orange damnit) and a young guy helped us out. Turns out he had just returned from Santa Fe and was excited to talk to two New Mexicans.

So room keys obtained, we elevatored to the 6th floor and found our lovely, spacious, quiet (if you don’t count the crashing of the waves) tatami mat room.  An entry way where shoes are left, toilet room, bathing room, dressing room, sitting/sleeping room. Even a mini frig with a couple of bottles of cold water and chilled glasses.

I immediately yearned for a soak in an Onsen. In luck, the hotel offers several cave Onsens (yes, real caves). We headed down to the first floor then into a tunnel to enter the cave, Grubb peeled off to the men’s side. I ducked into the pink clothed entrance. There were about 10 women in various stages of the bath cycle and big signs (in English) saying NO PHOTOGRAPHY NO VIDEOGRAPHY. Okay, I get it. Sorry folks, no photos of the cave.

I followed the bath procedure as previously described. I wondered if anyone was peeking at this westerner to see if she scrubbed appropriately. 

The water was a steamy murk. I waded along the rocky floor to find the bathing area closest to the entrance of the cave with a view of the Pacific and joined three chattering, giggling women.

All told, this was not the same tranquil soak experience I had at Ryokan Fujiya Mae the day before. But still, a soak in Onsen water is soothing.

We had signed up for the 7:30 dinner seating on the second floor in the Sunrise restaurant. Arrived to find a massive buffet. Everything from sashimi to salad to miso soup, ramen, pickled sardines…I dunno. Millions…even gazillions of choices. 

We ran into a couple (from San Francisco) that we’d met a couple days ago and kept running into. Anthony and Susan. (Yep, they are well used to the old Susan B. Anthony joke). We’d hung out with them a bit earlier in the day for some shrine hopping but parted when they decided to go to the shrine involving 528 seriously steep steps. Turns out Susan opted out also because of a knee issue and waited at the bottom while Anthony tested his mettle. Her knee was seriously swollen. He is 71 and a serious trekker. See we septuagenarians can still have athletic adventures!

In a bit, we will go to breakfast. I imagine a similar huge buffet spread. We will loll around until checkout time at 10 then head into Kii Katsuura to wander while waiting for our 1:46pm train back to Osaka.