Japan Alps 1

A few weeks ago, I had a 5 day weekend and took a trip out to the Japan Alps National Park.  I took a bus out to Matsumoto and stayed at a great little ryokan there.  (A ryokan is a traditional style guesthouse with tatami floors, futons, and onsens.)  The couple running the ryokan were so sweet and took such good care of me.  Lending me a bike for the day, giving me maps, finding cheap tickets for sightseeing things, even lending me there dvd player and movies.  My room was really cool.  It had tatami floors, a comfy futon, and a traditional tea set.  They also give you a yukata to lounge around in, which is basically like an informal kimono. 

I bought a 3 day unlimited ticket for the bus, so I could explore as much of the national park as I wanted.  The first day I went to Shinhotaka to go on the cable car ride to the top of the mountain.  The bus ride out there was amazing!  I lucked out and made it to the park at the height of fall color season, so it was breathtaking.  I didn’t realize how popular the cable car would be, but I ended up waiting about an hour to ride up the first leg of the trip.  (It stopped in the middle of the mountain and I had to wait another 70 minutes to take the second car up to the top and the viewpoint!!)  But I befriended these nice Japaneseladies who were waiting behind me in line.  They only spoke a little bit of English, and I only remember a few words of Japanese, but a lot of smiling and laughing made us friends for the day.  The view from the top was worth all of the waiting! 

After the cable car, my new Japanese friends invited me to their hotel to go to the onsen.  It turned out that they were staying in one of the poshest hotels in the park and the onsen was unbelivable!  It was a totally natural setting with the spring water pooling up inbetween big boulders, and a river running by on one side.  We even saw a monkey walk by!