I cooked a big breakfast and we slowly got moving. I have been loving cooking for everyone in our Airbnb.

We left and took a moment to appreciate the perfect weather and unreal foliage.

We set off for Matsumoto city, which was about 1.5 hours away but felt longer. This part of Japan has the same issue that England has; things that look close on a map take forever because the roads are small and curvy.

Millie whined for ice cream from the moment we left, and was worried about having to wait a whole hour to get her Friday ice cream. We pulled over at a random store to get her one to put all of us out of our misery.

The drive was beautiful, albeit windy. We managed to keep her entertained by telling stories for the whole time.

We arrived at Matsumoto Castle and the whining continued. I think Millie hears the word “castle” and immediately switches into her “I’m bored” mode.

The castle itself was very grand and pretty against the water and colorful trees. It is interesting to compare the architecture to similar structures we’ve visited in Korea & China. I liked the simplicity of this one being black.

We got tickets and climbed to the top. We had to take our shoes off and we all tried not to slip on the very steep stairs. I liked seeing the construction, but it was pretty busy. Millie complained about having to wait in the lines to go up and down.

We were all quite cold and drove a quick 10 minutes to the art museum. Matsumoto is the birthplace of Yayoi Kusama, who Millie refers to as “my favorite artist in the whole world”. I recognize how pretentious this sounds, but she got a children’s book about her a couple of years ago and it stuck.

The museum had a great exhibit of her work. It didn’t allow photos except for the last room. We talked about how many of her installations we’ve seen now on this trip: in Amsterdam, in Almaty, and now here. Gosh, we’re spoiled.

We walked through the rest of the museum and loved the special exhibit by Ishii Hakutei.

We started the long drive back home, stopping for some groceries along the way. We were all kind of worn out. Millie fell asleep under my arm and we arrived home after dark.

Our Airbnb has a sketchy driveway and garage that you have to back into, resulting in a tight squeeze. My dad hopped out early so that he could open his door all the way, and then walked up to unlock the house. At some point between us and the house, he tripped on some rocks in the dark. When we left the garage, we just saw him splayed out on the big rocks like a cartoon character who had just fallen off a cliff. He said “I need help, I’ve hit my head”. We got him up and inside and examined his wounds. He was banged up but fine, and we (mostly me and my mom, the worriers) started to calm down. It was a stressful 15 minutes that left us all feeling rattled.

I cooked a repeat dinner of sweet potato, greens, and fish this time. Nick lit his nightly fire.

When it was time for bath, Millie had a hard evening with some screaming. I think it was a lot of the stress and held-in whining from the day coming out. We got through it but I ended the day emotionally spent. Tomorrow we’re having a relax and hangout day to recharge.