Nagano Prefecture

When I think of Nagano I think of the 1998 Winter Olympic Games.  I remember watching endless hours of figure skating with my sisters, and never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I would go there someday.  I hope we come to this area to ski soon, but this trip brought us up to see the world famous snow monkeys.  We rented a van from the base, complete with two drivers.  Its a great perk to living on base, as its a pretty cost effective, and a stress free way to navigate for day trips.  We brought with us our good friends Jamie and Matt Cowan and their two girls.

We arrived in this snowy little Japanese hot spring town and promptly got stuck.  Thankfully the men were able to push us out.

                                                                   Working hard...

When we finally arrived we had a 1.6km hike up the mountain to where the snow monkeys were, and the walk was absolutely beautiful.  One of the highlights of the day.

                                                                  steam from a hot spring

Audrey was not impressed

                                             

When we reached the park, the monkeys are literally right next to you.  There are no enclosures or cages, this is their natural habitat.  They are not scared of humans, but can become aggressive if food is near.  They love to chill in the natural hot springs of this area.

                                                               Very fun to observe

It was a long drive up here, so I was so glad we decided to go to Matsumoto castle as well while we were in this part of Japan.  This samurai castle was built over 400 years ago.  It is known as the black castle, so it could not be seen at night very well.  The samurai inhabited the second floor and the war lord the top.  There were many tiny windows for archery and later gunfire.  The kids LOVED it.

Matsumoto castle

                                                               Ready to go

                                                                   Entering the grounds

  It was very dark inside, so it made taking pictures tough.  Here is one of all the children checking out the view.

We had to wear slippers inside.  The woodwork was amazing, and it was easy to see why they wanted to protect the floors.

                                                            Room with a view

                                                                Suzanne and I

Family 

So glad we included this in our day, it was an amazing place.