Hotel Metropolitan Nagano

Our hotel is located right next to the Zenkoji Exit (Western Gate) so it was very easy to find. Sally was especially excited to see actual snow on the ground outside the station.

We managed to jag a slight upgrade in our room (from 18sqm to 25sqm) though in doing so we now have two beds in our room which we can't work out if they are oversized single beds or undersized double beds.

After settling in we took a short stroll around what appears to be the main part of the city which encompasses all of two or three blocks. There were quite a few restaurants and bars around, however quite intimidatingly, they appeared to have minimal English. We eventually settled on a place for dinner which was a Japanese style tapas. We initially struggled to work out how to order, however with the help of a friendly group of Japanese tourists at a table next to us we were able to grab the wait staff's attention. Turns out, it is actually customary to raise your hand and call sumimasen (excuse me) to grab the server's attention. We enjoyed ourselves greatly and had a good meal featuring tempura shrimp, grilled rice cakes and some form of seaweed thing amongst others.

After what has been a long day, we are pretty keen to get a good night's sleep before heading off to the Snow Monkeys tomorrow.Read more