As we're sitting and waiting, an older Japan man sitting ahead of us turnrf around and gave us a can of Asahi beer - "Gift, for you." "Arigato Goisamas" and we politely open the beer in front of him (yup, its about 11am, but hey, its five pm somewhere in the world.
At noon the loudspeaker starts saying something in Japanese, we assume its to announce the start of the Marionette show. Eventually, she gets to English, but even though the crowd is pretty quiet, the sound quality is pretty lousy so the only thing I actually understand is that nine men are behind the marrionettes' movements. It was fascinating. Not only the show, but the audience and their reactions. For one, there are no children. I don't know whether this is intended as an adult festival, but I hardly saw any children. The only ones around were those of foreign tourists. So there we all are, a few thousand adults waiting in the hot sun for a marionette show :)
The dolls shook their heads and hands and legs and did some loop de loops. Every time a doll did something, a flip or jump from one rung to the next, the whole audience - Ohhhed and Ahhhed. It was contageous, even I got into it.
Twenty minutes later the show ended and everyone calmly and slowly got up and lined up to leave the courtyard. I on the other hand wanted to run and find the nearest bathroom. Sitting for over two hours and drinking endless water so I wont get dehydrated. If was the first time on this trip the Japanese organized and leisurely stroll was driving me crazy.
We then walked around and took a look at the floats, saw the parade of the portable shrine. The local kids walking before and after the shrine were banging on some kind of bronze gongs with wooden hammers producing a very loud high pitched sound. Note to those coming to future parades, dont stand to close to them if you value your hearing.
Later we watched a mini parade as four of the ten floats passed by. They were pulled and pushed by men, young and old, and there were people atop.
Sometimes it was a few children and sometimes it was a whole group of people playing musical instruments. 
For a second it was touch and go for one of the floats as it tried to turn the street corner and almost toppled over. The crowd Ohhed all at once. If one of those things falls, its not only the people in it and on it that would be injured but all those around it and maybe even a house or two as the streets are very narrow, the houses very close and the floats very high.
That quickly righted itself and the first parade of the day ended. We walked around some more and tasted of the local food. We had some of the local apples (yum! its the season), chicken nuggets (who knew it was a local thing), corn on the cob (ok, maybe not so local, but the sauce on it was, as was the price), Shwarma (hmmm, definitely not local but Ori had a craving). For dessert we tried the chocolate covered banana and candied grape. Umm, kinda disappointing actually.
We walked around the old area of Takayama and walked into a few goods stores. I even tried on an antique Kimono. Unfortunately, the fit wasnt right. Somehow, my, umm, chest, is a little more curvaceous than that of the average Japanese woman. So no Kimono for me.
We tried a local beer and Ori made friends with some locals also partaking of the brew. 
We then walked into a Saki brewery to try some Saki. We got a little ceramic Saki cup to try and went about trying to find one that we liked. Most people there (a few Japanese but mostly a group of Australian teachers and parents accompanying a class trip) were filling up their tasting glass and treating the place as a open bar. Ori and I would pour a drop or two, not wanted to waste if we didnt like. We figured we would pour more of the one we liked once we found it. Unfortunately, we never found one. I guess Saki is not our drink. There was a nice Japanese man standing next to me explaining the different types, tastes and percentages. Asking my feedback of each taste. I thought he worked there or was maybe the owner, as he cared so much. I didnt want to insult him, but I really didnt like any of them. He was really nice about it. Then after trying a few and figuring out we werent going to find one i liked, he gave me his tasting glass and he walked out. I dont think Ori and I will be bringing back Saki with us.
We kept bumping into Erez and Maya throughout the day. It was nice. Funny that out of the hudreds of thousands in town we saw each other several times. It was nice to see friendly faces.
At six pm we went and sat through the full procession of the the floats - ten of them - through the streets of Takayama. They were all lit up and really special.
You'd think that during a festival, the shops and restaurants would be open late and take advantage of the hords of extra people who want to spend money in their little town. But no. You can join in the Japanese experience but you cant change them. The market normaly closes at noon, so it closed at noon on festival day as well. the shops normally close at 5pm, they do so as well during the festival. And the restaurants? Try finding more than five open after 7pm. Good luck. Considering we'd eaten samplings of local food throughout the day, we werent that hungry early on, so we knew it would be an issue finding a place to eat dinner. This we knew out of personal experience of the night before. We arrived in the afternoon and walked around town. Then around 7 we started looking for places to eat. Guess what? They were all closed. By eight, the streets were empty and dark and creepily quiet. You would never have figured out a festival (one of the three largest in Japan) was going to take place the next morning.
We finally gave up and walked into the nearest 7-eleven and bought dinner there. I got a green salad (impressively fresh) and potato gratin (who knew Japanese chefs knew about it), and Ori got gioza and chicken salad. Oh and apple juice. We got a large container of it. Why do I mention it? Because Japanese apple juice is awesome. Whether from one of the vending machines or some 7-eleven. Its not just any juice, its cider. We had the cashier heat up what needed to be eaten warn in his microwave and walked back to the hotel. Actually, it was pretty yummy. But probably wouldnt repeat it too often.
Back to the present day. We found a restaurant we'd walked passed several times (there were always lines outside) and decided to join the line this time. They had Hida beef (local specialty) and I was excited (a meat dish without pork!). Ori had the ramen with beef and i had the grilled beef on rice. I wanted on the ramen noodles but the chef was aghast at my request and said it tastes better with rice. Trust me he said. Good thing I did. It was delicious. Small dish but YUMMY! (Ori says his was ok too but that mine was better)
Happy and satiated, we went back to the hotel and crashed. Tomorrow is a big day - Shirakawa-go trip and then to Kamikoche.
I cant believe how much we are able to squeeze into each day. Its amazing and exhausting all at once.
Ok, off to sleep now. Back tomorrow with more updates.
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