I decided to stay one night in Ueda since I wasn’t sure how I was going to get from the retreat center to Ueda or what time.  I didn’t want to have to rush to meet my train or miss it because my timing was off.  It would take me two trains and a bus to get from Ueda to Hirayu Onsen.  I was able to come back to Ueda with my teacher and friend by taxi.  I also got to have lunch with them before they departed to Tokyo and I departed to laundry

After doing laundry, I was only slightly early to check in to my hotel.  I was able to check in early.  I booked a massage for 6:40pm so I had over three hours to kill.  Sara and Michael had headed off to get ice cream when I left them so I still had ice cream running around in my brain.  I mapped ice cream and picked a location nearby.  It was a restaurant that served a lot of things.  Ice cream was not one of them.  They had shaved ice.  Close enough.  I got a mulberry milk ice.  The menu advertised it was high in antioxidants. I’ll take my toxic sugar with a side of antioxidants please. They cancel each other out, right?  It was stupid sized and delicious.

Then what?  I went to the art museum because the internet told me they had a great shop with things from local artists.  Lots of things, but nothing I wanted.  Since I was shopping now, where else coukd I go?  I went to two other gift shops.  They were full of boxed snacks.  When Japanese travel they buy these as gifts, either as a memento of where they traveled to or as a gift to others from their home town.  I think it’s a great gift idea, but I don’t have room in my suitcase for boxed mystery food.  One box had a picture of a green grape, another of an apple.  I was pretty sure both of them probably were sweet and might resemble the flavor of that fruit.  The rest of the boxes and bags were a complete mystery.  The rest of the things in the shops were sake, samurai themed toys, other toys, trinkets, t-shirts and hats.  There was a huge samurai theme since the Ueda Castle nearby dates back to this times of samurais.

After my massage, I went in search of steak.  I had seen several on my wander around town.  I went to two steak places that had people eating in them, but they told me they were closed.  It was a little before 8:00pm.  Even restaurants in Granby are open past 8:00.  I went to a Korean BBQ place.  Every item I would want was for a minimum of two people.  I gave up the hope of steak.  My next goal was to find a place that would serve me any food. 

I went to the street near the train station where I ate the last time I was in Ueda.  Two more restaurants were full of people, but closed.  I still have emergencheese in my suitcase, but I’m pretty sure I should throw that away, not eat it.  I think I’ll go to bed without dinner before eating emergencheese.  The last restaurant on the street welcomed me in and even fished an English menu out of the back somewhere.  No steak.  So, I chose a cabbage and pork omelet.  I never would have put those three things together on my own, but it was good once I scraped the dried fish flakes off the top.