Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Karuizawa

Breakfast was pretty fancy!  It started with soup and salad.  My salad had ham on it but David's, of course, did not.  Then eggs with meat. We also had yogurt with raisins and granola and rolls and croissants.  Excellent!

As usual we boarded the bus at 9:00 for a full day of sightseeing with an expert local guide. Her name was Chie and she was a great guide! The first place she took us was to the A.C. Shaw Memorial Chapel.  It is dedicated to the Canadian minister who popularised Karuizawa as a holiday resort.  He was a Christian minister and built the chapel so he would have a place to worship when he was there.  

Where David is standing, below, he had one foot in one prefecture and the other foot in another prefecture.  Japan consists of 43 prefectures which indicate administrative divisions of Japan. 

We then stopped for a coffee break at the Mampei Hotel where John and Yoko Lennon used to frequent.  On the menu there is a tea available (John Lennon's Royal Milk Tea) that was supposedly John's favorite.  I don't remmember exactly what was in it but of the four of us at our table, only one of us was brave enough to order it!  I think it was half tea and half cream.

David and I played it safe and had hot chocolate (him) and cappuccino (me).

Then we headed to a restaurant where we learned to make soba noodles.  This cute goat was tied up just outside the door into the restaurant.  I sure hope he wasn't going to be someone's dinner later!!!

The kitchen was all set up for us when we arrived.  Sally and Dion lined up right next to us.

After we mixed and rolled out our soba noodles, we cut them as thinly as possible and put them into individual bags so we would get to eat the actual noodles we made.

The noodles look delicious, don't they?  Only problem was, they cooked them in dashi broth which is made with fish so . . . I didn't eat them.  However, I did eat the ice cream they offered us after the noodles!

Lunch was a short stop in a long day of sightseeing!  Next the bus took us to the Mount Asama Stone Park to see the lunar landscapes created by the lava flow.  The area was very stark and dramatic and we thought it was gorgeous.  On the hike up to the shrine there was a bell and legend says that if you ring the bell once with the wooden log, you are forgiven for all of your prior sins.  I figured what the heck?  I could always start over!

We also got great views of the steam escaping the top of the mountain/volcano.

When we returned to the bus the bus driver had built us a snowman.  He had been our driver for five days and we all loved him.  He was very polite and professional but he had a fun side too!

The next stop was the Shiraito-no-taki Waterfall.  What an incredible sight to see the "length" of the waterfalls.

And a group picture.

One final stop with the local guide was to do some shopping on Karuizawa Ginza.  David bought a delicious bottle of plum wine and I bought two cherry blossom scarves.  We didn't have much time before we boarded the bus to return to the hotel.  

Dinner this night was at a lovely restaurant called the Longing House.  

I'm not sure why but I only have pictures of David's salad and his lovely main course.

As you can imagine after reading the above, we were exhausted after the long day and wasted no time getting ready for bed!