We had a long drive ahead, not as much in distance but in time needed. The first part to Matsumoto went smooth as we could stay on the expressway almost all the time.
Matsumoto is best known for the castle, located in the center of town. The sunshine and blue sky made it a beautiful photo opportunity.
A few hundred meters away is Frog Street, a narrow pedestrian street with small shops and several statues of frogs. Most of the shops were closed today and thee were not many people around.
We needed to stay on the national roads for the rest of our journey as the expressway was closed off for repairs after the typhoon at several places end even then there were detours. The drive to Onioshidashi volcanic park took more than half an hour longer than calculated, 2 hours for 88 Km. The park consists of volcanic rock and has a temple at the top of the hill.
10 minutes away we visited the Shiraito waterfall. The falls are just 3 meters high but 70 meters wide. Here to we saw some typhoon damage.
The final drive was to the hotel and again we had to take smaller roads. We took the Usui pass but didn’t stop as it was getting dark. We did see a fox that stayed in the middle of the road when we passed. It kept looking at us as if it wanted to come along.