With Dean and I totally wrecked the previous night, we hadn't packed much except our boards. We were trying to dry out our clothes/helmet/gloves etc, so these still had to be packed into the snowboard bag, whilst all our other accoutriments had to be bundled into the other bags. Not really hard, but not what you want to think about first thing in the morning.
After getting everything together, then dragging bags down to the lobby, we headed in for breakfast. As we wouldn't be snowboarding until after lunch, I didn't feel the need to have a massive breakfast, which was ok, because sometimes, I don't really feel a big breakfast.
We then dragged all the baggage from the lobby to the bus stop. Considering the lobby is up a steepish flight of stairs, it's occasionally daunting not to fall over/down whilst carrying a 20kg suitcase. We were running early, which meant we had about 10 mins til the bus came, in the -7 deg temperature. There was a few others waiting at the stop as well, giving me funny looks as I was wearing shorts as per normal. This bus was packed, with the driver having to lug a suitcase (ours) along with a sports bag on and off the stairs as the hold was full. The people that gone on at the stops afterwards had to sit on the fold out seats as well.
We got to Nagano station right on time, but had about 30mins wait for the train. This was planned, as it would give us time to get the tickets, get money from 7-11 and get to the right place without stressing for time. The first leg from Nagano to Takasaki was ok, not much to think about, as it's the same as coming up, however the leg from Takasaki to Echigo-Yuzawa was a new exciting experience...
Well, it would have been, except Mum and Tim had left their backpacks on the seat at Takasaki. AAAaahhh, world ending crisis... well, not really. We told one of the ticket officers who phoned it through. When we got to Echigo-Yuzawa, we talked to the ticket office and said that they had the bags waiting for us at the Station Information counter at the Central gate. I was designated spokesperson, so I hopped on the train with Mum and Tim, back to Takasaki to collect the errant bags.
The journey from Takasaki isn't much to talk about. As opposed to the Nagano shinkansen where there is a lot of scenery whizzing past at 250km/h, most of the journey betwen Takasaki and Echigo-Yuzawa is tunnel. The train is cool though, as it's a double decker thing with food and drink.
We soon made it to Takasaki, where it took all of 5 minutes to collect the bags, leaving us time to look around. Takasaki is a transportation hub, so the station was a little bit more decked out than Nagano station. We found numerous cake places, and even found some gluten-free stuff for Tim, who was stoked to find some desserts he could have. We then made it up to the platform where we decided to stay in the waiting room to keep warm.
A half-hour train trip back to E-Y, then after pointing Tim in the right direction, Mum and I started walking back towards the hotel. We could have just called the hotel and got them to pick us up, but with it only being 1.5km away, we thought a good trundle would do us good. On the way, we found a pharmacy, where in very broken Japanese, I asked for some anti-inflammatory gel. I got that, then we found a small mini-mart next door. First thing we saw, and the only thing we got was strawberries. I love the strawberries here, so any excuse to buy some is good in my books. We then kept walking, finding little curio shops for Mum and Whitney to browse the next day. We got up the hill towards the hotel, and after taking a wrong turn, were soon there.
I wasn't sure what to expect, as we have never been to Yuzawa before, and don't know the hotels or area. But upon walking in, I was surprised. This place was pretty swanky. The reception downstairs has a nice chandelier and an openness about it. Going up the escalator (it's automatic, so turns on when you break the beam) you have the 1st floor. This has the library, where you can sit and read near the fire or use the wifi, the onsens, massage/facial salon, and the mini-museum to the novel Yukikuni (Snow Country), where the writer stayed at this hotel whilst writing it. The breakfast area is also located on this level, along with a theatre. There are more restaurants on the 2nd floor as well, though these don't appear to be always open.
Our rooms were located on the 6th floor (top level), and the view is pretty good. It overlooks Yuzawa Town facing south towards Iwappara and you can see the Kanetsu Expressway and Bullet train lines. The room itself is tradition Japanese style. Tatami mats for the flooring, futons for beds, a komatsu (table with heater underneath), as well as fridge, toilet, bathroom, balcony and decent enough sized TV. Considering the price we're paying for it (6850Y per night each), it's a bargain.
We got ourselves comfortable, whilst Mum and Whitney used the onsen. This places onsen has been here for about 900 years, and the temperature it flows from the ground at is just right. Some of the other onsen we've been in, they've been too hot, but this one I can sit in without feeling like a lobster boiling.
Once everyone was feeling refreshed, we decided to head into town. We were all feeling really hungry, having missed lunch, and we needed to get money out, so the first stop was the 7-11. When we first came to Japan, I didn't like the smell of the 7-11's in Japan, as they had a funny smell because of the food cooking on the counter. But after 4 trips (this is our 5th), it's sort of grown on me. Rather than there only being dodgy hotdogs, and some pies in the warmer, they have things that are filling, but not junk food. Kerry found us there, and said Tim had come down with the cold in a bad way and wanted to know what the dosage instructions for the medicine was. He was also on the hunt for a bar or somewhere where he could get steak, as the Japanese style dinner at the hotel didn't suit his taste bud. He'd later come up to our hotel, as it's no fun being by yourself when the other person is sick and just wants to sleep.
After we had all grabbed some cash out, we decided to walk around the corner to the train station. This one wasn't as fancy as Takasaki, but still had a market attached to it, selling various food and drink items. There was Fuji apples the size of a baby's head (2 for 280Y), as well as various sake sellers (this is a rice growing region) and other bits and bobs. We were hungry though, so we didn't feel like looking, but Zoe was feeling adventurous, so when we stumbled upon an Italian-esque cafe with Pizza and Pasta, that was the decision. I just had a Margarita with some salad and stuff, while Dean for some unbeknownst reason decided to get this pasta that was trout and mushrooms. It's weird, because Dean's not a big pasta fan, or trout fan or mushroom fan, yet just wanted to try it. Turns out it was good, with others who tried it preferring it over the shrimp and anchovy pasta Mum had. Zoe had a ricotta pizza, and the ricotta was fresh and creamy. All up it wasn't a bad deal. We had 4 pizzas, 2 pastas and a few drinks for 9900Y. This is one of the dearer places we've been to, but still wasn't too bad.
After we ate and were satisfied, we now were up to wandering around the market. Zoe ended up getting some nibblys, whilst Paul stayed away. There are these little packaged cakes, almost bite sized, but for Paul, they are like crack. Could eat a whole box by himself, so we just wandered around looking at other things. It was now getting on to 8.30, so after grabbing an ice cream or dessert from the 7-11, we called up the hotel to pick us up.
After we made it back to the hotel, we played around on the wifi for a while, sitting around the fire and relaxing, before all the transit caught up with us and we decided to head for bed.
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