I am sitting in a cafe in Nagano station, and I though I would jott this down while it is fresh in my mind.
I did not plan on visiting Nagano today… I actually set out for Nagaoka… Which is a few hundred kms north of here.
I got up at 4:30 to reach Tokyo station by 6:08 for my first Shinkansen ride.
I was excited… 300 km/h through the mountains… It would be great.
After a few stops we started to get up to speed… The train really moves!!!!
And then we approached the mountains…. And tunnels.
It never entered my mind that most of the trip would be underground. Very disappointing. We would come out of a tunnel… Stop… And then back underground.
I can now say I have gone to the washroom at 300 km/h… Underground…. Not something to put on your bucket list
When the train arrived in Nagaoka. I didn’t even leave the station.
I hopped on the first local leaving the station
About 7 stops later I got off…. Walked around for a hour…. not even a village…just a collection of a few houses.
Got on the next train…got off a few stops later ….at the sea side…got on another train… And ended up in…. I really don’t know where I was.
Outside of Tokyo, English and romaji are very limited. Instead of asking questions… I had a quick bite to eat and then tried to figure where to go next.
A train pulled in, with Nagano as it’s end destination. Some place I knew so I hopped on.
It was an older, slower, local going through the mountains… 2 + hours of shear brilliance and great scenery.
Makes up for the underground flying.
Now my tea is finished I need to figure what to do next… Fast train back, or find a slower route…..
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