11D10N Japan 15~25 Apr'16 Day 3: Tokyo to Matsumoto

Rise and shine! Its Day 3. After staying in Tokyo for 2 days, its time to begin on our route. The first stop will be Matsumoto.

Matsumoto is a small town near to the Tateyama Alps, by train. Hence, we will stay one night in the town and then get to the Alps very early the next day.
To get to Matsumoto, we will take the Azusa train direct from Shinjuku, for about 2.5 hrs. Our reserved train timing was 10am. But we need to get to Shinjuku station early to buy the tourist tickets for Alpine route. The promotion tickets for Tateyama Alpine route for tourists is priced @ 9,000￥ and only sold at few major stations from 16 April 2016.
Read more: http://www.alpen-route.com/en/convenient-and-cheap-new-release-tateyama-kurobe-option-ticket

While crossing road to New South exit, we saw hello kitty at the construction site



Shinjuku New South exit is near Takashiyama Times Square (in the background)

After getting the tickets, we packed snacks and drinks to bring on board.
Hayaku ikimasho!! Let's make our way to Matsumoto..

Lots of snacks and bento selection at New South Exit

Ikimasho.. we enter to Track #9 for our train



That's our #11 JR Azusa Super Express train



The inside of our Azusa train



Excited faces!



 

Along the way, the weather was bad.. and little did we expect that our train will be delayed.
The train stopped many times.. sometimes for few mins, and sometimes more than 10mins.. We heard the announcement saying strong wind has caused the train to slow down.
And then, the train came to a complete stop, it stayed stationery for like ages. Some announcements were being made but all in Japanese. And the train captains even get down to the tracks to check the train.
We were helpless on the train as I couldn't pick up much with my beginner Japanese. But we met a Chinese guy who could speak Japanese and we asked him what had happen. We understand from him the stoppages has been caused by some plastic being trapped in the wheels and then the train captain finally stopped the train totally to check the problem and remove the plastic.

We could not feel the wind but we can judge the bad weather from the dark clouds

Matsumoto, 松本
Anyway we arrived at Matsumoto after a looong 7 hours !!! It was a great disappointment..as our itinerary has been affected... but what to do? haiz..



 

We wasted no time to check-in to our hotel, Ace Inn.



Ace Inn Hotel, just few mins walk from the train station



Matsumoto is famous for Matsumotojo, which was one of the most beautiful original castles in Japan. It's a pity we could not enter the castle as it was already closed when we reached. Nevertheless, we enjoyed the park outside of the castle grounds, and were lucky to be able to catch sight of late blooming sakura.

Sakura?

Different ways to view Matsumotojo

Taking a rest in the park

Late blooming sakura

Flowers on tree, in hands, on the ground...





Sight of the nearby Alps



松本 でまり

Noi love us..

Matsumoto Time Museum is in the background

Beautiful daisies

My company's advertisement is here

Soon it was dinner time. We enjoyed yakitori at a local restaurant called Watamin-chi. The food is quite good and its easy to order as they have menu with pictures! Its Yum & Good!!

 

After dinner, some sights we saw while taking a slow walk back to the hotel. And we stopped by at a nearby Ario Departmental store to pack breakfast for the next day as we need to be out of the hotel super early.



Go to the mah-jong house if you feel bored



Or nearby KTV