Kanazawa - Visit to World Heritage Villages

Today we visited several Unesco World Heritage designated villages about an hour by bus from Kanazawa.  It was in the mountains above Kanazawa, and was very cold - low 30s.  There was snow on the ground, so I wore 3 layers of clothing.  The villages feature houses with thatched roofs, which last a long time but are costly to replace when they wear out.

Here's another village we visited in the same area:

We stopped at a former school, now serving as a community center, to see how to make the traditional Japanese food called mochi.  Mochi is made using a special rice that is cooked, then pounded with a wooden mallet.  Here is Joe doing his best not to hit the hands of the woman who was rearranging the rice after each stroke of the mallet:

Our next adventure in the area was to a company that makes traditional Washi paper.  We each made 3 postcards out of Washi paper.Washi paper is very durable, and I think waterproof.

Here is my lunch for the day, served at a local restaurant.  All vegetarian dishes, and tasty:

Here's our tour group at the lunch restaurant in the mountains: