Thursday, July 17, 2008

Nagano and the North

Thank goodness for the mountains. At least that was our feeling as we spent 4 days in the Japanese Alps. Our first stop was Nagano and the Zenko-ji Temple. We made at least three cultural faux pas with our hostess at the shrine hostel, but that's what traveling is about! We also learned that most restaurants in Nagano close by 7! Luckily we snuck into one that closed at 7:30 for a late night dinner. It was nice to wake up in our tatami room in the 100 year old building that served as our hostel. After a morning of exploring we boarded a bus for Hakuba, one of the many small ski towns that dot the Alps. We landed in a lovely little hostel and armed ourselves with groceries and a bottle of local wine. The next day we took the gondola part way up the mountain and hiked a burly 4 miles in the mist. Periodically the clouds parted to give us a glimpse of the mountains, but it felt like we were being teased. At one point we came across a small graveyard. After the two snakes who were keeping guard disappeared we found two graves with ice axe heads cemented into them, though we couldn't quite puzzle together the story. That evening our WMI course translator from two years ago met us and we wined and dined at our hostel.

The next day she took us to a local high ropes course. She works for Project Adventure Japan and sweet talked the locals into letting us hop on the course at a reduced rate. It has been 20 years since I was on a high ropes course-the technology has certainly evolved! The course had a self belay system that allowed you to complete the entire course without a staff person on the system. We completed the course in about an hour with the requisite screams and profanity. Li was utterly fearless and kept urging her mother along when I took too long to complete an element. She was incredible!

Last stop in the north was Matsumoto Castle. A very cool 500 year old castle with three rings of moats. At one point our friend Missy commented on the gentleman wearing a striped shirt and plaid pants (something about fashion sense...) and indeed he ambled over and volunteered to be our English speaking guide. He was better as a guide than as a dresser. We biked around the town of Matsumoto, Li perched on the back of a bike on a chair cushion. After watching her on the high ropes course I didn't worry too much, that is until one of Steve's brakes stopped working...

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