Disinfecting with alcohol

 

After suffering from a nasty cold and staying home all week, I got up dark and early on Nov. 3 to catch the train to Shinjuku where I'll be taking an express train to Katsumatabudokyo to go to a wine tasting festival. It's the same festival I went to last year, but they changed the system from where you only had to buy the wine glass and you can sample as many wines as you'd like to you buy a wine glass and it comes with 10 drink tickets (those who wish to can buy more). We had to be selective about which wines we're going to try out.

We rented a couple of bicycles to go to a bakery I visited last year where the bread was really good. I was hoping to get more bread. Sadly, that was not to be a case. They were closed! 😭 There was a sign outside the shop saying they're closed because they're participating in another event held on the other side of the city. We're in a very hilly area and the e-bikes we rented weren't all that powerful, so I wasn't about to venture that far for bread. Fortunately, there's another bakery that I've been to and their bread isn't that bad, but they don't carry pain de campagne or French bread. Only a variety of sweet or savory rolls. I got a couple of rolls with buttery cream, an apple and cinnamon roll, a hot dog, and one with cheese and walnuts.

We returned the bikes and headed over to the wine tasting event. The selection was pretty much the same as last year, but there was a really nice cloudy wine made from Delaware grapes that I really liked. I liked it so much that I bought a bottle to bring home with me. We were bummed that the system changed, so we stuck to wines that we knew we'd like.

I went to this event with a Millennial I used to work with. She was complaining about how some rental cars don't have guides to help her back into a space. I was like dude, none of the cars I've driven (with the exception of recent rentals) had guides so I had to eyeball it when I'm backing into a space or do parallel parking. She just got her driver's license a little over a year ago. Since she lives in the city, the only time she'll be driving is when she rents a car or borrows her mother's. Yeah, I don't think I'll be getting in the passenger seat anytime soon. LOL

Since we still had plenty of time before we had to catch the train, we decided to ride the bus that goes around the town. It was one price regardless the distance. It was a good way to kill time and get to see other parts of the town, although I must say, there wasn't much of a town to see. We were really out in the sticks. We were impressed to see how nice the bus driver was to tourists. There was a couple waiting at an old bus stop that's no longer used, but the driver still stopped and let them on while explaining that they were waiting at the wrong place and the new bus stop was around the corner.

We had dinner at the diner across from the station. It was a cozy place with a great view and they served houtou (ほうとう), which is a regional bowl of noodles made by stewing flat udon noodles and vegetables in miso soup. Apparently, this dish must have Japanese pumpkin in it or they can't call the it houtou. It was good and filling. I'm glad that I finally got a chance to try some.

Oddly, I felt a little better after spending a day tasting wine. I guess my system needed a bit of disinfecting with alcohol. LOL

Unless they change the system back to the way it was last year, I don't think I'll go to this event again. Maybe because it was that they changed the system or because there were other events going on at the same time, there were much fewer people at this wine tasting event.