Day 8 - Nagano & Kyoto-shi

After another great night of sleep, we awoke to gray skies and snow falling heavily. Rich declared it "Not ideal skiing weather' and news reports were calling it a 'snow storm' that would eventually cancel many trains that day. 

Although we were sad to have to cancel a second day of skiing, we decided to try and make lemonade out of lemons. We had another huge breakfast, and enjoyed some steaming hot bowls of Nagano-grown Koshihikari rice with nori and pickled, seasonal home made vegetables.

Since we had time to kill until our afternoon train (we had reserved tickets), I decided to head back to the onsen for a third and final visit...here's a pictorial walk through of the experience since I had it all to myself...again.

You leave your shoes outside the door to the womens onsen.

There was a lounge to disrobe and leave your clothing in a bin.

From there, you bathed yourself at one of the showers, and could enter the indoor pool right behind the showers (they have squatty stools to sit on while bathing). In Japan, you're required to completely disrobe and cleanse yourself from head to toe before entering the hot bath to soak...so not bathing is not an option. Most onsen also prohibit those with tattoos to enter the baths.

I always, always wanted the outdoor onsen, as fewer folks would go out there (too cold). But I loved the snow falling and the sound of the wind blowing through the trees.

There was a cold plunge you cold step into if you wanted to alternate between hot and cold.

It had been snowing so heavily overnight and that morning, that I had to wade barefoot through a foot and a half of snow to carefully make my way over to the onsen. Because it was a brief moment, it was fun to see my foot sink through the snow.

But once I was in, it was heaven...again. It was so hard to leave!!! One of the most serene and beautifully peaceful moments of my life. I soaked in more than any other moment I think I have ever had. The entire memory is seared into my brain and if I close my eyes, I can see it all over again. As I sat in that steaming, still water, I let the snowflakes fall on my tongue, and loved watching the wind blow the snow off the tree branches. I remember thinking I could leave everything behind (work, stressors of daily life, traffic), this scene would be the perfect balm for the soul. It was moment after moment of silent reflection, marveling at the simplicity/beauty surrounding me...I was SO happy.

 

Once we were done, we checked out and sat in the lobby a bit, watching the snow fall hard and fast...our bodies still warm and jelly-like from the heat of the onsen. Our cab took us the train station, where we had our first weather delay of 35-40 minutes. We killed time going omiyage shopping and found the most delicious grape-flavored dango!

Once our train arrived, we managed to get to our first stop about 20 min away, but once we exited that train, we learned our next one would NOT be arriving due to the blizzard like conditions. Instead we were ushered onto a bus by train staff, and found ourselves winding through narrow mountainous roads and snow covered landscapes. 

Somehow, an hour later, we found ourselves in a completely different landscape. We exited the bus in an urban city (Nagano)...with zero snow on the ground, and in front of a massive, modern train station. We waited an hour to catch our Shinkansen train to Kyoto Station, and enjoyed some beautiful senbei and the grape dango while we waited.

When we exited the train that evening, a few hours later due to weather delays, we were still able to meet up with an old friend we knew when we lived in Japan (he was leaving town the next morning to go back home for the holidays). From there we went to our hotel in downtown, historic Kyoto.

We stayed in an area that we never could have dreamed of staying in 20 years later. It was in central Kawaramachi, and just off Sanjo/Teramachi dori. The hotel was classic, simple, elegant and a place we would definitely stay again (Kyoto Royal Park Sanjyo Hotel).

Our dinner that night was in Teramachi at Kura Sushi, Ryan's favorite place to dine. We had sushi while he shopped though...as he preferred to run solo away from us! (Again) ;-) 

It was such a relief to be back in our old neighborhood!