Family Day in Nagano

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Geo: 36.6514, 138.181

Family Day.. Mums request.
It was 1 hour drive in the taxi but worth it. We went to the Zenkoji Temple.

It was fantastic. A guide helped us with the whole experience.
We had to take off our shoes. It was very cold. Walk on the bamboo reed mats.
First we had to worship the gods. Take pinch of salt. Say a prayer and then threw the salt. Then we had to go down a set of stairs and it became dark. we had to keep our hand at the same level as the hand rail and we had to find a lock on the door. It represented the door way to the after life. By finding the locked door it meant that when it was time for you to go to the afterlife you will know the way.
It was very scary and really, really dark and cold.... with no shoes on.
Luca went first. It took a long time. He finally found it. "Am I supposed to open it" he asked.
"""NO, NO, NO,""" I yelled. "You are not going to the after life now!"

We all grabbed hold of the lock on the door and we continued. It very dark for a while longer and then we could see a light in the distance. Very scary. This is a place that the Dali Lama had visited.
There was also a special wooden statue. It is supposed to take away any pain that you have.
You have to touch it in the same place that you have pain. I touched its right shoulder hoping that it will help..... Yes.. be positive. It will work.


We had lunch at a cute place. Even though it was a small place it still had a heated toilet.


Did a bit of shopping in the city center and had a Starbucks to warm ourselves up.

When we arrived back in Hakuba it had started to snow pretty heavy.
We all got dressed up and played outside.
Luca and Serena made a funny shaped snowman. He was very cute.
The kids even made snow angels.

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