Matsumoto Castle was so pretty from outside, but inside was empty. All the weapon displays were guns. What happened to samurais with swords? Too bad people were not allowed to walk on the red bridge.
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| Matsumoto Castle entry ¥700/person |
Apparently Matsumoto people eat horses. I've tried horse sashimi once. It was not as good as fish sashimi.
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| Horse Meat Cuisine |
From Matsumoto to Tateyama Kurobe Alpine route was easy and not easy. First, it was one-hour train ride from Matsumoto to Shinano Omachi, ¥680/person one way. Even though the train was Japan Rail, it did not accept Suica. We had to buy paper tickets. Then it was 40-minute bus from Shinano Omachi to Ogizawa, ¥2,500/person round trip.
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| Shinano Omachi Eki |
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| Shinano Omachi to Ogizawa |
From Ogizawa, the Alpine route started. Ogizawa to Murodo (or as Math Teacher called it, Mordor), it was ¥9,470/person round trip. It was a lot of transportation. It looked so confusing when I was researching online. However, it was well-organized. We didn't get lost. Followed the tourist crowd, and everything was all right. Every stop took about 15-minute for transportation and half an hour for sightseeing. I would highly recommend pack own picnic, as the food up in the mountains were very basic to none. Besides, there was nothing better than to have a picnic surrounded by beautiful white snow under the bright blue sky.
Murodo was the top of the mountain with the snow wall. It was only half way through the Alpine route, but it was enough. Even though it was at the end of May, the snow wall was 14 meters high, and it didn't feel cold at all.
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| Ogizawa to Murodo, ¥9,470/person round trip |
Murodo was the top of the mountain with the snow wall. It was only half way through the Alpine route, but it was enough. Even though it was at the end of May, the snow wall was 14 meters high, and it didn't feel cold at all.
Of course I had to buy local beer as souvenir. The red and gold tasted sweet and great; the black one tasted funny.
