Japan 2.9: A day of travel and rest on the way to the snow monkeys

Since the other side of the mountain was still shut down, my plans for going to the city there and seeing some points of interest had to be missed.  We came back down the mountain the same way we came up.  One of the observation platforms was partially open and some of the snow at the dam was melted.



We arrived in Nagano around 1:45pm.  I gave Miles the choice between going to a place with gyudon(beef bowl) or a ramen restaurant across the street(presented as "soup.").  He chose ramen.  I had actually never had ramen before, so I was interested to try it.  The restaurant was rated highly on google maps.  The food ended up being excellent.  It was of the miso variety of ramen.



We continued on to Yudanaka.  Our hotel had a shuttle waiting, to pick us up.  The staff is extremely friendly and the place looks very nice.

There is origami on the tables near the reception area

The hotel looked like a regular hotel, but the rooms are Japanese traditional inn style, though ours includes a private bathroom.  We are on the 4th floor and have a great view from our room.



We had a traditional Japanese dinner.  One interesting part f the meal was that we picked our own mushrooms and cooked them on the table.  The waitress asked me if we were siblings, which I always find funny and kind of odd.



Unfortunately, they were not told ahead of time that we do not eat seafood.  They were able to give us a few alternatives and tomorrow we will be able to have chicken instead.  It was a bit too exotic for Miles, but luckily I had bought him snacks ahead of time, just in case.

Tomorrow morning, we will be going early to see the snow monkeys that this area is known for.