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Published: October 29th 2006
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Breakfast was at 8:00 am and we wanted to go to an onsen before that, so we set an alarm for 6:30 and said we'd meet at 7 am in the lobby. We all wore yukata a lot on this vacation and the ryokan provided geta for us to wear around the town. We only went to one onsen but it was by far the largest. We got there and there were three Japanese women in it but there was more than enough room for us all to use it together. We got in and after about two minutes, all three of them got out and ran away. Ok, they didn't run but they dressed really quickly. We weren't even being rude, speaking loudly or anything blatantly obnoxious. We were deeply hurt. In the rotator cuff, where all people who watch old samurai movies know deep feelings reside. That became a bit of a running joke all trip.
Breakfast was all right but I would love to know who told the Japanese that mayonnaise is an acceptable garnish for ham. Because that person deserves a long, slow death. After breakfast, we all wandered back to the bus we wanted to
be on (Go bus #2!) and set out for Zenkoji, a shrine. This was an awesome time since we took the monk tour. Zenkoji is famous because down in the basement, it's totally dark and there's a key mounted on the wall, symbolizing enlightenment. It was not just dark, it was an absence of light. I was with Liz and Pris - we didn't find the key but we felt like we found something down there and it was a good thing. Afterwards we had time to wander the grounds a little, so I bought some charms and Liz interacted with tons on children. Kindergarteners were there and they really liked shouting "He~llo!" to us. We also got to see pigeons. Lots of pigeons. And Shin-san running at the pigeons while on a cell phone and waving his free hand. I really wish I'd gotten a video of it. By then, it was 11:30 and we were going to go make lunch, soba noodles.
I was not overly thrilled at making soba since I don't like it. The irony of this is that while Nagano is famous for its soba, they announced on the bus that "soba is highly
dependent on the skill of the maker." So essentially what they were having us do was make terrible soba and then force ourselves to choke it down. Good times. But when we pulled up to the soba place, joy coursed through my being. Lo and behold,
A GIGANTIC SLIDE!!!! So we went inside with plans to return to slide later. Soba making was a lot like pasta making - add water to the flour and a binder, since soba is buckwheat and the noodles would fall apart, then roll it out with a big pin, fold it over and cut it using a knife. They cooked the noodles for us and we ate them.
The epic of the slide began. We rushed downstairs, ran outside and up the huge hill to the top of the slide and waited our turn. I have never seen such cooperation. You'd think we'd have to wait a long time but the longest wait I had was about 45 seconds. We waited until the person ahead of us was off or almost off then down we went. This slide was comprised of metal rails forming a trough. It reminded me vaguely of a bobsled
trench. The whole slide was surrounded by casing so it seemed safer. There were terraces too, since you went down an incline, leveled off for a few feet then went down again. I was wearing my polar fleece so I really
flew down the slide. I went a grand total of three times and each time I became airborne. At the end of the terrance, I'd keep going straight for a bit and then land hard-ish on the slide. My method of going down might have had something to do with it since I tucked my knees up and went down like that. On the second try, I flew so fast and high I literally came out of the trough and had to push myself back in while airborne. I really want one of those in my backyard.
After soba we were off to the Ninja Theme Park. We were a little wary of this, thinking it would be dorky and not really a theme park. WRONG. This place came complete with obstacle course and ninja house you had to find your way out of. But the best part, by far, was the room at a 45 degree incline.
They made it so it looked level and your eyes were tricked. Best room ever created. There were races, wrestling and the greatest game of King of the Hill ever played. Imagine playing King of the Hill on linoleum in socks and you'll have an idea of what it's like to play it on tatami. There was so much cool stuff at this park I can't even think straight so I can't write about it. However, we were all tired from the park and tried to have "Happy Sleepy Time" on the bus, except that three people were quite...energetic and talking sort of loudly, with Audrey laughing like crazy. At this point Matt became my hero of the day for saying, "Audrey, hon, you know I love you but if I have to hear your cackle one more time....I'm gonna kill you."
We got back to the ryokan around 5:30, with dinner at 7 pm. We went to our room, had some tea since we were cold, showered, and then met up with our other compatriots and hit up one onsen before dinner. Dinner was awesome - the people at the ryokan really did have good food. After dinner
we went out to two onsen, with repeats of the first day, except when TK called Liz by my name when we were all naked. Then Liz proceeded to enumerate the physical differences which was a little entertaining to hear. Afterwards we got back to the room and watched Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and drank some more. It was a much mellower night, at least for us. This was apparently the night where some other people got totally trashed and ended up putting a hole in the shoji screen in their room. Shin-san was (rightfully) infuriated. Oh, and we learned there were bears in the mountains that routinely come into the town. Hooray. This was also the night with some tremors. Makes sense - hot springs equal volcanic activity.
Summary: Day Two rocked hardcore.
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