I had a lovely, long weekend a few days ago. I was lucky enough to have my girlfriend, Ms.
Azusa (AKA あっちゃん), come to visit me in
Nagano. After I picked Ms. Azusa up from
Nagano Station after her long Shinkansen ride, we stopped to get ramen. It was a place I have been to and recommend
so obviously it was a delicious and irrefutable establishment.
We went to bed early because we had big plans to go hiking
and followed by a relaxing evening at an Onsen (hot spring) with a couple of
friends on Saturday.
Saturday morning came and we had the usual thoughts of, “forget
our plans, let`s go back to sleep and say we don`t feel well.” After indulging
in these thoughts of possibly sleeping in, Azusa and I forced ourselves out of
the futon and into our hiking gear and away we went to meet Yamato, a fellow
ALT (assistant language teacher), his wife Aya, and Blair, another ALT.
We hiked for about 5 hours at a local mountain called Shigakogen, which is famous for hosting the Winter Olympics in 1998. The fall colors have barely started but there was still plenty of beautiful nature to observe.
The hike was suppose to last longer but luckily our slave driver of a guide Yamato, made a wrong turn at Albuquerque which brought as back to the beginning of our hike. We got to go to the Onsen a little bit earlier than scheduled but nobody was complaining.
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| Fall colors |
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| On a mountain in a cloud |
After refreshing at the hot spring and getting some ice cream, we all went our separate ways. Azusa and I went back to my apartment and enjoyed some Breaking Bad episodes which at some point got changed to a Japanese fashion program…
Sunday was a bit more of a casual day. We woke up a bit later and went straight to
lunch as I get “crabby” when I am hungry. Most the stores would probably close
when they see the hideous beast that is a hungry Frankie rolling up to their
front with its eyes going in separate directions and drool spewing from its
mouth.
Anyway, we had a lovely lunch a Nepali curry restaurant
which is extremely authentic and serves all you can eat Nan (google it).
There was an astonishingly wide variety of roses. Also, there was live music being played. Azusa and I relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful flowers and their sweet fragrance.
For dinner that evening I don`t remember what we had or even what we did…I sat thinking about it for 5 min. and nothing.
Monday was a holiday in Japan so everyone had off. Azusa and I slept in and then headed toward
Nagano City to get lunch. We ate at a
popular restaurant from the Kansai region that had just opened up in Nagano two
days earlier! It is called Baby Face
Paradise or Baby Fei for short. They are
famous for massive portions
Ah! I remember what I did Sunday night. Azusa and I went to a neighboring town called Obuse to a burger place called Tommy`s. It was an amazing burger. I was really surprised by the quality and size. Probably the best burger place I have ever been too. Of course, being at the best burger place in Japan, there were 3 other foreigners in the restaurant. This is extremely rare for the area I am living in. One of them happened to be an ALT named York. The other two were training to grow Bonsai Trees. One had been training for 8 years and was about ready to head back to America to start working as a professional Bonsai guy.
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Azusa then hopped on the Shinkansen and headed home. It was a very active and relaxing weekend.
