Tag: ice cream

Matsumoto + Lake Suwa – Feb ’24: part three

It doesn’t really warrant a part three, but the last post was picture heavy, so I’ve split it.

Before breakfast I went down to the onsen and it was just me!

Breakfast was amazing. The lady was talking to me, asking about what I eat/don’t eat and said that it was helpful eating katsuo dashi. So, if you can be flexible in Japan, they can usually offer you something inline with what you can eat – it’s a different debate about whether you should have to be flexible but I will be, so it was good enough for me.

We ...

Matsumoto + Lake Suwa – Feb ’24: part two

Lake Suwa doesn’t sound great in English (especially if you’re used to the water in England at the moment), better to go with the Japanese name, Suwa-ko.

We arrived fairly early and it was cold! No odd socks today, I had thermal leggings on. We took the local train from Matsumoto (half the price and only about 15 minutes longer – who’s winning?) and got off at Shimo-Suwa Station. We practically ran to get coffee and a piece of banana bread – really nice because it wasn’t overly sweet.

I don’t know when I started liking shrines so much and ...

Matsumoto + Lake Suwa – Feb ’24: part one

We spent a few days in Nagano and very pleasant it was, but really cold. The people were very friendly – I don’t want to offend but compared to Tokyo (and I know it’s because it’s a capital city, they are the same everywhere), extremely friendly.

We took the Azusa train from Tachikawa at 8:24 and arrived in Matsumoto at 10:37. It was full, so I’m glad we booked and didn’t just roll up on the day like we had planned.

We stayed at Hotel 168 aka Iroha (if you know Japanese, you’ll get it). I didn’t, my husband had ...

sweltering in the hot hiroshima heat: day two

It was a breakfast buffet at the hotel with plenty of options! I tend to not have much of an appetite in the summer but my husband isn’t like that, maybe because he grew up with the heat.

After breakfast we got the bus to Shukkeien Garden・縮景園 which I loved. I love gardens anyway but I think this was one of the best I’ve been to in Japan. It was blistering heat and not very crowded. There were lots of turtles and koi in the pond and I felt sorry for them with the heat. Animals have done nothing to ...

sweltering in the hot hiroshima heat: day one

We went to Hiroshima last week – Thur 27th – Sat 29th July. We got the shinkansen from Tokyo Station at 7:30 and arrived in Hiroshima at 11:27. It was hot! It said it was the same temperature as Tokyo but it felt boiling. We got the bus (we could use Pasmo) to the hotel ANAクラウンプラザホテル広島・Crowne Plaza – ANA Hiroshima, an IHG Hotel (it was a really nice hotel). The lady on reception asked if we wanted to upgrade for two people for two nights for ¥5,000 and I said ‘no’ straight away. Even for me, that’s a new level ...