Nagano

We spent two nights in Nagano, though it was more of a pit stop for day trips.  We booked a hotel blind online...as with most things online hit and miss.  In this particular case bit of a miss!  Though the place was called "New Yama Hotel" it was a bit run down and had a lingering stench of cigarettes   We booked a twin room that was supposed to have internet.  But none of the twin rooms have internet (or so he told us).  Initially he moved both of us to a single room with internet, and once Michelle complained that we paid for two and to have internet they moved us to two separate rooms.

This room was tiny and exactly what I remembered Japan from my last visit...

The tiny bathroom is again what I remembered from the last trip.  Really it doesn't get more space efficient than hooking a hose to the sink to save on plumbing!  The whole thing is a plastic moulding of some sort.  I felt the movement of the structure, swaying sort of like I was in a ship middle of the ocean.

On our first afternoon we trekked to find the Zenko-ji temple.  This pretty tree was outside.  Japan is full of these bright blossomed trees.  Best part of visiting the country in spring.

The Zenko-ji is a 7th centuryhilltop buddhist temple and Nagano city is built around this hilltop.  It is supposed to be the largest wooden building in eastern Japan.  We didn't pay to visit the alter, but below the alter is a dark tunnel to help you experience birth, death and rebirth and touching the "key to paradise" is supposed to give one deep insight what it is to be a Buddhist in Japan.

I am fascinated by the Japanese roofs.  We think it's some sort of ceramic painted.  Even the houses has this little Japanese tilt at the end of the roofs and lots of homes have solar panels.

Most temples have these large trees propped up by wooden pillars.  This has been one of the most elaborate so far (I am sure Kyoto will beat it!)

Last night in Nagano we met up with the Yankee friends for dinner.  This again turned out to be randomly walking down streets looking at menus.  It was bad enough with just Michelle and I, this particular night we added 5 more to the group!  Luckily, with little fuss we picked a place called Vingo.  We started with plum wine (yum!  We were first introduced to this on our flight to China) and a delicious starter of fiddleheads and maybe bacon?!)  First time I've fully enjoyed fiddleheads!

We ordered number of dishes to share.  This was some sort of cuttlefish and rice.  How cute is the shovel like spoon?!

This was my pick, I thought it was a version of Okonomiyaki (japanese stuffed pancake) but it was a omelette stuffed with noodles, cheese and other goodies wrapped in bacon tossed with benito flakes!  I am understating it when I say it was delicious!

In the room next to us were a bunch of Japanese business men/women (or so we guessed from the clothes) were steadily getting hammered on a thursday night.  It looked like some sort of celebration and these people were falling down drunk.  Literally.  One of the women was curled up against a wall another guy was hanging on to the wall for all he was worth.  End of our meal, Michelle stepped into say hi, which followed a round of cheering for Canada and numerous high fives.  I laughed so hard I thought I'd fall down the stairs on the way out!

After dinner we stopped at a restaurant/cafe/bar called India spice.  Place was filled with these Betty boop figurines and

clocks!  Crazy number of clocks.  Luckily none were the chiming type.

The menu was...uhmm...interesting!

Bunch ordered pina colada's, the proprietor didn't seem to have a blender we heard him pounding the ice!

I ordered an Irish coffee.  It was more irish whiskey than coffee.  I slept super well that night!