Kurobe Alpine Route

Marina and I woke up EARLY today! 5:15 am to be exact! 

We had to get on the road by 6 am to pick up Emmy, we already started the day off on a quick pace! 

Quick breakfast time! I was so surprised that my mom made such a great breakfast, even at 5 am! Wow. I don't know how she does it with so little sleep and two handfulls to take care of!

My mom made reservations for us to tour the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route through the Northern Japanese Alps. The route is open from mid April to the end of November, connecting Toyama City in the Toyama prefecture to Omachi Town in Nagano. 

We were pretty worried about the disappointing weather. 

When I woke up, it was pouring. Waterfalling. It also continued to pour on our drive to the bus in Toyama. My expectations for the day were thus set pretty low. 

I didn't think we'd be able to see anything. 

Here is the awesome little pin I got to wear as part of the tour. The lil guy's name is Tommy. He's so cute. Unfortunately, I couldn't keep him. So I took a photo instead. 

After our bus drive to Tateyama Station, we then took this cable car to Bijodaira. Then another scenic bus ride to Murodo. 

Murodo is a lava plateau 2,450 meters above sea level. Right when we got out of the bus, we literally couldn't see a thing. Everything was covered in a layer of thick clouds. Disappointing. 

Then suddenly, just as we took this photo, the clouds must have sensed my dismay because they cleared up in a blink of an eye! It was pretty darn cool. 

The clouds lifting to reveal the mountain range! 

There were numerous paths that spread all over the plateau, offering great views of the Tateyama mountain range. 

I thought that the most beautiful part was the Mikuriga-ike crater pond. 

Especially because it was so unexpected! I had no idea what the Kurobe Alpine Route was in the first place, so everything that we saw was completely new and a surprise!

The flora was also so beautiful and different from what I've been seeing since we were in the mountains.

I started humming the Sound of Music. It felt like the right thing to do when surrounded by...

"The HILLS are alive! With the sound of muuuuuu siiiiiicccc!"

 With our tour, we got a bento! It was yums. 

Rice with ground chicken and eggs confetti, chicken and shrimp tempura, vegetables, candied sweet potato, and orange slices. 

Next, we took a bus to the Tateyama ropeway. It's 1.7 kilometers long, making it Japan's longest one-span ropeway. 

The view from the cable car on the way down. While sunny weather is great, the clouds added such a mysterious, calming element to the scenery. Amazing. 

The other gondola car on the way up!

The ropeway landed us at Kurobedaira, which presented more great views!

The clouds were not only beautiful, but they also gave us a nice escape from the hot, humid....HOT weather in Kanazawa. It was like, wait a minute...why am I not sweating just from sitting?!

The lake reminded me of the lake in Harry Potter: the lake where Harry fights with the mermaids in the Goblet of Fire. Ya know what I'm talkin bout? Well, I was so ready to jump on a Hippogriff and fly off the ledge, that I had to play Hedwig's Theme song on my iPhone. It was just so inspiring. 

Next, we took another cable car down to the Kurobe Dam. I didn't think I would be impressed by a dam. I just pictured a manmade wall next to some water. Big deal, right? 

Wrong. When I got off the cable car, I thought, "Is this Atlantis?"

The color of the water had a crystalline, sea mist hue that was stunning. It was also so placid and serene. I hadn't felt that calm in a while since being on PII. 

I was simply impressed by the structures and mountains, then...

WHOA. That's a lot of water. Oh dam. So many dam jokes that day. Before I looked over the edge, Marina told me to prepare myself for the sight. It was truly spectacular. 

So much power spewing from the dam. 

Looking straight down. DAM. ok...I'm done. 

We climbed up and down and across the dam to get views from all angles!

 Marina and I went to the highest lookout point, while Emmy and my mom chilled. I was just too curious! 

The view of the lake from the top! See what I mean about the clouds?

They were also selling a few products touting the Mountain Strawberry, so I decided to get this vividly-colored mountain strawberry drink! It tasted like a concentrated raspberry strawberry in juice form. It was so good!

 

Our final picture before leaving the dam to go through  a 6.1 km tunnel on bus to Nagano!

Once in Nagano, we took a scenic bus ride through Toyama. Passing by the coast, we saw this incredible view. Look at the sun rays peaking out through the storm clouds!

When we returned back to our car and drove home, it was around 5:45. Quick stop at home, then dinner time! The whole family went to a popular washoku restaurant offering many different teishoku (set meals). There were so many options to choose from! It was difficult to decide because everything looked amazingly tasty. But for some reason, this Neba Neba don was calling me. 

I think my tastes have gotten even more Japanese (I didn't think that was even possible), because I really like the neba neba texture now! Before, it was ok, but I wasn't too wild about it. 

Now I have natto or okra or yamaimo or mozuku or something slimy at almost every meal!

This rice bowl was packed with the slimy stuff: okra, yamaimo, natto, raw eg, and fresh tuna.  

I got the set with cold udon noodles. I've probably eaten more noodles than rice here in Japan! I'm pretty surprised by how often I eat cold noodles, yet don't get tired of them. 

With my appetite satisfied, I hit the books hard...until about 3 am. Not fun stuff. 

But beach day tomorrow, so I had to make sure to get the studying in somewhere this weekend! 

Good night (morning?!)