I woke up at around 4:15... When you are functioning on 5 hours of sleep, that's not a good thing. But there wasn't much I could do about it. My body went *ping* wide awake and that was it.
With everyone still asleep, there wasn't much happening. I went downstairs and after cursing the time being an hour behind my brain, went for a walk. It was about 2 degrees, but I don't really feel the cold, so off I went in my jacket and shorts. I haven't really explored around the Sakura, despite this being our 3rd time staying here. So I headed south. I went probably 500m before coming to the entrance to the Shuto expressway. Going a bit further I arrived at the Imperial Palace gardens. I would have liked to take a better picture, but it was 4.30 in the morning, and my little point and shoot doesn't go that well in really low light. I kept walking, taking pictures were I could. I got back to the hotel, but it was still only 5am, so I went upstairs, grabbed my laptop and started typing yesterday's blog post.
We had booked tickets the previous day for the 7.24, but with not being able to get to Donki, the plan was for everyone to meet in the lobby at 5.30. Zoe and Paul made it down, but Dean, Mum and Whit were dragging the chain. We still made it to Donki about 6.10, but with time slipping away, we didn't leave Donki til 6.45, and that was with rushing around. I still managed to pick up some Glen Livet 12yo for $23 as well as some Rum and Raisin chocolate, a few other bits and bobs, but not everything we planned to get.
It became apparent that perhaps getting a train at 7.24 was being a little optimistic, so we didn't worry, as we could always catch the next one. After packing up and leaving the hotel we got the subway to Tokyo Station, then headed inside for the shinkansen. There was one leaving at 8:16, and it was only 8am, so we grabbed that one and conceded that we'd have to eat on the train.
After getting the on the train, everyone was cursing our lack of breakfast. After yesterday's faultless performance, there was bound to be a hick-up. When we got on the train, we accidentally sat in the reserved seat car. If we had got on our intended train, it wouldn't have mattered, but we now had to site in an unreserved cart. No biggie, but wad stuck our stuff in the over head racks (Including a 26kg board bag). I waited for a little bit after everyone had moved. The food and drink trolley lady was coming through and I didn't feel like trying to manouevre past her with my bulky laptop bag and cabin bag. I also bought a sandwich container as I'm sure the others hadn't grabbed anything in there rush. I was right, because I quickly gave it to Paul, who was looking out for low flying ducks.
When the lunch trolley lady came past again, Paul grabbed some water, some sushi for Zoe, some chocolate sticks (like pocky) and a coke. All for the princely sum of 890Y. I think Paul is secretly loving it over here, as things aren't costing as much as he expected, and the convenience of vending machines, food not costing heaps and other things, helping him unwind as he must have been convinced from all the "Japan is super-expensive" stories were going to send him to the poor house.
By the time we got off in Nagano, everyone was needing more food, so after getting up out of the platform/station area, we headed to the coffee shop. Tim ordered a breakfast set, but just didn't eat the toast, whilst Kerry, Dean, and I all grabbed sandwiches with bacon and stuff. Because of this slight delay, we had missed the bus to Shiga Kogen, but with everyone still a little tired from the travelling, I wasn't pushing anyone. It was only a 40 min wait or so, so we poked our heads into a souvenir store, with Tim looking for riceballs and gluten-free things to snack on. We only found one, so we headed across to the 7-11, which had a better selection. I grabbed some gloves for mum, who had misplaced hers, as well as coffee can.
I should mention that the snow was falling in Nagano as we waited for the bus. Kerry, although having been snowboarding in Australia and New Zealand was still a Queenslander, and was feeling the cold, while I was getting strange looks, because I was still in shorts and t-shirt, with my trusty grey jacket as well.
Tim's excitement was nearly palpable, and as we wound our way up the mountain, with snow falling and the banks on the side of the road, it was only getting worse. By the time we hopped off in Ichinose, I don't think kevlar ropes could have kept Tim down, so we pointed them in the direction of their hotel and headed to ours. We were a little slow going though, as we couldn't check in as the rooms were still being cleaned, so after semi-suiting up (it was now -12 on the mountain) we headed for pizza from Khuls. I went to see how Tim and Kerry were getting on, but the lady at the counter said they had gone skiing... Knew it.
After heading back up to eat my pizza, we sat around and by the time we finished, it was time we checked in. The next drama of the day was unfolding. The luggage we had sent up hadn't arrived, due to road conditions, so mum and whitney didn't have any clothes, and my face warmer was in the black bag. It was now getting on, and with only an hour left of lift operations, we decided it wasn't worth buying a ticket. We got Zoe and Paul's boards set up, along with Dean and mine, and prepped ourselves for the next day.
I did take Zoe and Paul to the lane behind the hotel, but the powder was slowing everything down, and it was too narrow to learn to brake effectively. A couple of tries and they were spent.
By now the snow was coming down something fierce, and the wind had picked up a tad, but it just meant tomorrow was going to be awesome, with plenty of fresh powder to play in. We were all wrecked, so the plan (after we drank a little scotch and chocolate) was to grab some gyouza from the restaurant downstairs, and turn in early. Finally something went to plan, because after eating, it would have been about 9pm by the time we got bed, and all of us were out like a light.
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