Hello all, I have just returned from my first trip out of the city and it was brilliant! A group of us left school on Friday and went to Tokyo station where we caught the shinkansen (bullet train) to Nagano. We hadn't booked tickets but managed to get first class ones which was a very welcome treat on a Friday evening. The trains are quite stunning and extremely fast; they can travel upto 361mph. We completed our journey on a bus for about an hour and were greeted at the other end by the owner of our hotel who kindly took us for a delicious meal at a tiny lodge restaurant which we had to ourselves. After a good nights sleep the view that we awoke to was quite breath taking. We were in a small place nestled in the mountains called Hakuba which was the location for the Winter Olympic skiing in 1998. We were there for the Jam Off music festival where we enjoyed a range of sets, local food and a bouncy castle! The atmosphere was very chilled out and the setting next to a mountain river, that was the clearest water I have ever seen, was perfect. Luckily I was off my crutches so could go exploring and managed to traverse the rushing river - almost completely unscathed! The whole landscape will be totally different in a few months when the ski season starts - I can't wait to see it then and hope to learn to snowboard! I am off to another mountainous area called Norikura on Tuesday with all of Year 5 so I hope it's as problem free as this weekend!
Hakuba
Hello all, I have just returned from my first trip out of the city and it was brilliant! A group of us left school on Friday and went to Tokyo station where we caught the shinkansen (bullet train) to Nagano. We hadn't booked tickets but managed to get first class ones which was a very welcome treat on a Friday evening. The trains are quite stunning and extremely fast; they can travel upto 361mph. We completed our journey on a bus for about an hour and were greeted at the other end by the owner of our hotel who kindly took us for a delicious meal at a tiny lodge restaurant which we had to ourselves. After a good nights sleep the view that we awoke to was quite breath taking. We were in a small place nestled in the mountains called Hakuba which was the location for the Winter Olympic skiing in 1998. We were there for the Jam Off music festival where we enjoyed a range of sets, local food and a bouncy castle! The atmosphere was very chilled out and the setting next to a mountain river, that was the clearest water I have ever seen, was perfect. Luckily I was off my crutches so could go exploring and managed to traverse the rushing river - almost completely unscathed! The whole landscape will be totally different in a few months when the ski season starts - I can't wait to see it then and hope to learn to snowboard! I am off to another mountainous area called Norikura on Tuesday with all of Year 5 so I hope it's as problem free as this weekend!
Posted by anna on September 24, 2007 3:05 AM
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