Karuizawa

When our friends from Tokyo Lutheran Church invited us for a weekend away, we quickly accepted. But, since it was so close (about 2.5 weeks) until our departure, I wasn't interested in planning another trip. Thankfully, Jonathan was happy to plan our trip for us. We departed Tokyo by shinkansen on Friday, February 29 (2008) for Karuizawa. I really had no expectations except to enjoy the company of our good friends Jonathan, Tammy, Paul, and Hiroko. We stayed at the Mampei Hotel, a favorite of John Lennon and Yoko Ono. In fact, they spent three summers in this small town. I digress, we arrived late in the evening and had some drinks in the hotel lounge. Addy sacked out easily on the couch and I could've done the same.











Just about every city we visited in Japan has a food the city is famous for. Karuizawa is no exception. Their food claim to fame is jelly. Addison couldn't have been happier. Breakfast each morning of our stay was jelly bread.

After breakfast (on Saturday, March 1) Jonathan suggested we walk into town. Jonathan and Tammy have visited Karuizawa before and acted as our tour guides. We found out the town is known as a summer town - where people flock to escape the summer heat of the larger cities. Karuizawa is also famous for its numerous churches. I wasn't expecting it to be so cold that morning and I don't think Addison was either.

Hiroko and Addison see what it's like to be Mona Lisa.

After lunch we took taxis to a scenic lake. Had it been summer, it might have been an enjoyable walk there. Instead we jumped out of the taxis for some pictures, all huddled close together to block the wind, and jumped back in the taxis.


For dinner Jonathan and Tammy had reservations for us at their favorite restaurant. Hiroko and Paul surprised us by paying for our dinners (Thank you again!) Ian enjoyed his meal very much. I had a persistent stomach ache that weekend, but I tried to enjoy my meal too.



On our final day in Karuizawa (March 2) Ian and I made our biggest purchase of our entire time in Japan. We purchased a hand-carved chest. It is a beautiful piece and I wish we could have bought other pieces to go with it. Jonathan is fluent in Japanese due to growing up in Japan and he negotiated a great deal for us. Thank you again!



















After we finished shopping in town, we made our way toward the train station and the outlet mall where we did some more shopping and ate lunch. We ate lunch at an Italian restaurant. Ian got a spaghetti dish with whole cloves of garlic. I'm not kidding when I say there was a whole garlic bulb of cloves in there. Ian saved them for last and ate them in one fell swoop. I could not stand to look at him directly when he spoke to me for the next TWO days! The garlic smell literally made me ill. Regardless of all my stomach issues all weekend, it was a great weekend with our friends and holds special memories for us.