Skiing in Japan

On the slopes - about to fall off a cliff - with the volcano in the background

Dave and I had our first ever skiing holiday this winter.  And yes, we went to Japan to do it. Perhaps a little crazy, given that we are next to the French Alps, and there is even some skiing available on the same island as us. But would I make the same choice again?  You're damn straight I would!!  We were staying in Niseko, which is a ski resort on Sapporo, the island up the north of Japan.  And it was like this winter wonderland.  This must be what skiing is meant to be like, coming from Australia it was always kind of hard to understand the fascination. I think I'm a total convert now.

On the slopes

This resort town is completely Anglicised, all the ski instructors speak English, as do all the restaurants, and yet the food is all Japanese, yummo!  There was 15 m of snow in the town, yet people were still driving around, the roads had just been carved into the snow.  Walking along you have these massive walls of snow next to you, far higher than you can see over, it's incredible.  They are meant to get something like 30cm of powder every day, a local we met was whinging because we had only been getting 15cm. As you are skiing you have a view across to an active volcano, which looks almost exactly like Mt Fuji. Thinking back on it, it's incredible that a place like this exists, you would not change a thing about it.  The skiing is so good, they actually have to put signs up saying that you aren't allowed to ski through the town, just because there is so much snow that you could easily ski from the slopes to your room.  Unbelievable.

Lovely, lovely slopes

Couldn't ask for better weather

There are 3 resorts on this one mountain, and if you are really experienced you can actually catch a chair lift all the way to the top and then ski down to another resort. We are a long way from that standard, but luckily we are catered for as well. In that there is a free shuttle bus that drives between all the resorts. So if you are finding it too difficult where you are, you can just jump on the bus and go somewhere else.  Or if you go bored with the same runs, you can just try a different part of the mountain. They even have a mobile app showing you all the runs, their level of difficulty, their length, and the maximum and minimum steepness.  The last two numbers were really the most important for a beginner.

We did make the mistake that I think all beginners make at some point, of thinking we could tackle a particular run. Our instructor had warned us against it, but we were growing confident, and it was still marked as an easy run. Oh boy, were we in for a massive confidence crusher. This thing was like a cliff, you come up to the edge, and you can't see where the run goes, it's that steep. It was way too steep for the snow plow, it came down to the old side step, though to be honest I actually took the skis off and walked part way down. It took a long time to get down that run. Then we decided to go back up to the super easy part, and I had the worst stack ever. Smashed the back of my head on rock hard ice getting off the ski lift. Not a good end to that day. Lucky I was wearing a helmet, I don't think I would ski without one, after that experience.

Our last resort of the holiday

We had two days of lessons, and man that was such a good idea.  Next time skiing I would go for a few days longer, and intersperse the lessons with skiing by myself and rest days.  The fact that we were there for only 4 days meant that we really wanted to get in as much skiing as we could, so we were out on the slopes all day, every day.  Our first lesson was so good, it was just 3 of us with the instructor.  We started off on tiny little slopes, and there was even a magic carpet, so you didn't have to battle with the ski lifts straight up.  I think the ski lifts were definitely the worst part of the whole ski trip. Though to be honest, I even managed a terrible fall on the magic carpet, the assistant had to stop the whole ride and help me up.

But once we had mastered the little slopes and the good old snow plows, it was up the mountain. There was this great little stretch which was almost perfectly flat, with a whole heap of powder, that we could just go down and up on.  Over and over again, it was the perfect start to skiing, since even if you fell over it was into a massive snow drift.  Though I don't think I managed to get off the ski lift properly at all that day.  I think the trick is to wait until the absolute last minute before standing up, but even then it's a bit touch and go.

Looking down from almost the top of the mountain

We did another full day lesson the next day, that was a much harder day, the weather was a lot better, the day before we had been skiing whilst the powder was falling.  But this day was clear blue skies.  There was a whole pack of school kids learning snowboarding too, they were really scary to share the slopes with. They were total beginners.  Perhaps I sound like a ski snob, but snowboarders were by far the most scary people on the slopes. I got hit twice, when I was just standing waiting for the lift.  Both times were by snowboarders. One of them actually grabbed hold of me and started to pull me along. I had to shake him off, holy cow, get some lessons before you go round smashing into people!  The sound they make when they come up behind you is really scary too, as is the fact that they have a massive blind spot.  I just tried to give them all a really wide berth.

I will definitely be back to this spot.  I might try a bit of skiing in Europe first, to see if it's as good. I have my doubts. If you like skiing, get yourself to Niseko, you won't be disappointed.

Luxembourg

View to the lower part of the town with the crazy cliffs

Luxembourg was a surprise to me. I had never really had that much of a desire to go there, I think I kind of thought it would be like Brussels, a rather clinical, boring town, full of big buildings and empty streets.  I couldn't have been more wrong.  It was almost Parisian, with a dash of Dutch austerity.  We were staying in a very fancy hotel right on the Place des Armees, which is the main square in the old part of town.  We barely ventured out of the cobble stoned area.  The houses looked very French, and the food was definitely French, but the streets were so clean and everyone felt really rich.  So much less French in that instance, perhaps a bit more like the Swiss.  It is a funny little country, only 80kms long, and yet it felt that there was a lot to offer.  I think I could definitely live there if the need (or opportunity) ever arose.  They have a region in their country called Little Switzerland after all!  Though to be fair, the highest mountain in this region is only 414m high, I think to the Dutch people settling here it felt like Switzerland, to the Swiss, probably not so much.

The organ in the church - with oddly placed camera

We went to a really nice restaurant whilst we were there as well, Le Bouquet Garni, which has a star, so we booked in advance.  And it's a really nice restaurant, very cozy, not many tables, with lovely exposed beams and a view out to the cobble stoned street.  It was all very nice, with great staff who made you feel so relaxed and at home.  I was the one who booked the restaurant, so I knew how much the various menus were.  But then when they gave us the menus in the restaurant, only Dave's had prices on it.  Aaaah nothing like a bit of casual sexism.  I guess Luxembourg is still living in the olden days.

The most hilarious thing though was an elderly couple who came in later.  We were enjoying our lovely meal, having some wine and just having a great time.  Then these two showed up, without a reservation, and they had the most sour faces I have ever seen.  They were given the only table remaining, which granted was a little smaller than ours, and without a street view.  But the way they carried on, it was like they had just been dealt a mortal insult.  The sense of entitlement those people had was unbelievable.  I've never met anyone like that before, what sort of life must they have led to think that they have so many more rights than anyone else in that restaurant.  It sure put a bit of a dampener on the mood, I kind of wanted to have a go at them for carrying on like they were.  But then probably best to steer clear of such crazies.  So apart from that couple, the food, and wine, and service and ambiance was all perfect.  Would definitely eat there again, just if you are a woman, make sure you check the prices before you go in.  I wonder what they would have done if two women were dining together?

The river through the town - often flooded in the past

Weird art in the monastery - the skyline looks familiar

We, of course, did a walking tour, because how can we not.  And as usual it was pretty good, and surprisingly run by a local.  A lot of the time in non-English speaking countries it seems that you end up with other outsiders running the show. What made it so sweet was that the guide obviously loved Luxembourg so much, they couldn't imagine living anywhere else.  They took us round to this little shop where in the window there are all these weird ceramic birds, painted in various ways.  Apparently this is a thing in Luxembourg.  And then amongst the birds are photos of the royal family.  She was a real monarchist this tour guide, which I thought was quite touching, at least the way she felt about the family, quite protective.

The town had that great feel that you can get in only these tiny, rich countries.  In that the Prime Minister would often be out and about whilst the tour was running, so would come out and speak to the participants.  And there is no security to speak of, we all gathered in the courtyard of the government buildings, and you wouldn't have even known it was the centre of administration.  Even the Duke has been seen at restaurants when he's staying in town.  It's a much different feel to the UK or Australia, where you only get close to the leaders under very artificial circumstances.

Apparently there are at least 3 languages spoken in Luxembourg, the usual are English and French (they seem to be the most common), but they also have their own language, Luxembourgish, which I didn't realise.  I didn't really hear anyone speaking that, but apparently if you go out into the countryside most people are speaking that, and no English at all.

Massive vase near the court

The town itself is really interesting from a topological point of view.  You have almost two old towns, one is on an escapement behind battlements, and looks seriously hard to invade.  This escapement pokes out into this strange promontory, where they used to have their castle.  The escapement is serious cliffs, there's no way you could scale it.  Then at the base of this you have the river and what used to be the very poor part of town.  Mainly because the river used to flood a lot and it was all quite pestilential, but now it looks like a really nice place to live.  They have sorted out the flooding issue.  This flat bottomed valley stretches for quite a bit and then you have another escapement, this is where they have all the EU buildings and the banks.  It's a good idea, because they keep their lovely historical old town untouched, and yet you get the view over to these really fancy, interesting buildings.  It is certainly a town where there feels like there could be jobs.  And you would be right in the middle of Europe too, which has to be a bonus.

York

Front of York Minster

Gosh I really am a long way behind in my adventures.  We visited York last year!  Again another really pretty city, the old part of town has been maintained really well.  I think we have the town walls to thank for that.  Apparently there have been people living there for thousands of years, but it was thanks to the Romans that it really kicked off as a town.  We did another walking tour there, I really love them, and the guy giving it was a graduated archaeology student.  I'm guessing if you grow up in York, archaeology has to be a thing, there is just so much stuff to dig up.  In fact it's so popular that the students have to pay to be allowed to go on the digs, poor kids these days.

One of the must-do activities is a walk along the top of the walls, most of the walls are from the 1100-1300's, but it's really the Victorians we have to thank for being able to walk along the top.  They liked the idea of promenading around the town, so had the top of the walls widened.  They are still very narrow though, nothing like Luca say, which had walls that seemed hundreds of metres wide, there really is only a metre or two of width to walk along.  The gate houses are also very impressive, though they call them bars here, the naming convention is slightly confusing in York.

Close-up of stained glass being restored

You have to go to the Cathedral whilst you are there, or the Minster, that's really unbelievable.  Again really quite old, and there are Roman ruins underneath it, from the first Roman fortress.  You can go down into the crypt and there is actually a great museum down there, not overtly religious as most things in churches are, but just giving the history of early York and the Romans.  As you are walking around there are volunteers making sure you don't break anything or touch stuff, as there usually is.  Except every 20 minutes or so these volunteers launch into a discussion on the history for all the tourists who happen to be milling around at that time.  They are certainly very willing to engage with you as you walk around as well, so if you like that sort of thing you will be in for a treat.

What was perhaps even luckier was that they were restoring the main stained glass window at the time, so whilst you couldn't see it in situ, they had done a really good job of recreating the windows at ground level, so you could actually get a really good close up view of the panes for once.  And there was some good descriptions about what each window meant or portrayed, which is usually lacking inside churches.  They are definitely going out of their way to make the visit more than just the inside of a church.

York Minster ceiling

Statue of Constantine - crowned emperor in York

There were some great museums in the town as well, for such a little place they are certainly well-serviced with cultural activities.  There is, of course, the Richard III museum.  This is inside one of the gatehouses, so is actually pretty small and set over a few floors.  They love Richard III in this town, as is to be expected I suppose, and the group running this museum are constantly trying to counteract what they see as Shakespearean propaganda.  Fair enough I guess.  I'm not sure how successful they are at it though.  I think the best they can come up with was that Richard III was probably no worse than any other wanna-be king at the time.

If you want a less biased historical account there is also the York museum, that had some great stuff in it, back to the Roman times.  It's opposite the ruins of St Mary's Abbey which was dissolved during King Henry VIII's time.  In the same park there are the ruins of the hospital of St Leonards, again was shut down during the Tudor time.  York really did not do well out of the Tudors.

Clifford's Tower - part of York Castle

Great helmet in York Museum

Not only do they have the walls, and the minster, but there is also York Castle.  There is not so much left of that anymore, it's mainly just a tower on the old Norman motte.  But there was another museum attached to that which we didn't go into.  The motte was actually really steep and surprisingly high.  It's always funny going into these towers, because you kind of imagine that everyone would have lived in the walls, which is the only structure left, and that they would have had a big open courtyard as well.  But really there would have been a roof, and wooden floors and all sorts of rooms, it's just that none of that organic matter has survived.  It would be great to see a fully restored tower keep at some stage, just to get a feel for how these Normans lived.  I imagine the rooms were very dark, and dirty and small.  Which is a completely different feel to what you get when you visit one now.

If you want something really touristy there is also the Jorvik Viking Museum, which I am sad to say we didn't visit.  I reckon that must be fantastically touristy, like a Viking Disney World.  York was a massive Viking town, after the Romans disappeared.  It's a loooong way from London after all.  There were some old Roman bath ruins, not quite as impressive as Bath's ones.  I think York was a bit surprised to find it had any sort of baths.  They are currently in the cellar of a pub, which found them when extending downstairs.  Now they charge a couple of pounds for people to have a look at some old pools (no water remains).

Definitely worth a visit, a pretty city and more than enough to do over a weekend.

Dracula - Greenwich Theatre

Our new place in Greenwich is super close to the Greenwich Theatre, maybe a 7 minute walk.  We got along to our first show there, which was Dracula, done by a 5 person company.  They did a good job with such a big story, some characters were cut from the book (as is to be expected with only 5 people), but they were still all playing multiple roles, as well as doing all the sound effects and backing music.  

They were a talented bunch, as they could act and play music as well.  During some scenes half of them would pick up flute and violin and start playing, or they would be singing.  It really helped to create the atmosphere.  And the switching between roles was handled so well.  You had the same person doing Dracula and Van Helsing, which I quite liked.  

Since we are such incredibly organised people, and we booked months ago when we first saw the posters, we were in the front row, right in the centre.  Not that it was a sell out or anything, there were still quite a few seats left.  But it did slightly backfire on us in the end scene when Dracula leapt into the audience, because it meant he was standing right between us when he was giving his final speech.  I never like being forced into the performance, I prefer to remain as an audience member.  

I definitely think we will be back visiting this theatre, perhaps in the second row though.

Cardiff

Arab Room in Cardiff Castle

Phew, there has been so much on this year that I've only just got some time to write about it.  The pace has been crazy, I'm kind of looking forward to summer so I can relax (not sure if that is going to happen).

We got along to Cardiff one wintry weekend in January, though that didn't stop the locals walking around in short sleeves and no stockings on a freezing Friday night.  I have to say the Cardiff main train station on a Friday night has to be one of the more scary places to be.  There were so many coppers, which I guess is a good thing.  But there needed to be so many because there were so many incredibly drunk people.  And the thing with the Welsh is that they are a big people, forget the little English, these people are all tall and really broad shouldered, no wonder they are good at rugby.  If they had decided to start fighting there wouldn't be a lot you could do to stop it.  There was one guy swaggering through the main mall, wearing t-shirt and shorts, with a dog in a muzzle strapped to his waist.  Really weird, he got a wide berth from me.

Cardiff Castle and the Stadium beyond

It was interesting in Cardiff, I didn't realise it only became the capital of Wales in the 1950's, before that it seemed that Wales didn't have a capital.  And it's not as if Cardiff was really head and shoulders above any other city, I guess they just got lucky.

We visited Cardiff Castle, it's right in the centre of town so there's really no excuse, it has an impressive motte and bailey, in fact perhaps the best one I've seen.

The motte and keep

There is so much history just in this castle, with many different owners throughout the centuries and later additions.  During WWII people used the castle walls to shelter in during the bombing raids.  The walls were incredibly thick, so I assume they were safe there.  It was strange because at the time I was reading Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, a good book, and it spends a lot of time in London during the blitz.  It was kind of topical to go to Cardiff and find that they were suffering through the same onslaught.

Lovely Victorian arcade in Cardiff

The manor rooms are amazing, these were later remodellings in the late 1800's.  The castle was in the Bute family from the 1770's to the 1950's when it was given to the citizen's of Cardiff.  The main remodelling was due to the grandson of the guy who made all the money in this family.  This was when the coal industry was really kicking off in Wales, and the Bute's managed to invest in the Cardiff docks at the right time, making their coal mines worth a lot of money.  The grandson inherited the castle when he was less than a year.  He ended up hating the castle as it was and spent a lot of money remodelling it.  Which is good for us now, since he went in for this really ostentatious architecture.  So the massive clock tower was thanks to him, and the Arab room.  It's definitely worth a visit.

We also went on a walking tour, we are real walking tour connoisseurs, and this one was good.  It was certainly run under trying circumstances, what with the howling wind, and driving rain.  But the guide managed to find shelter wherever he could.  And he certainly gave a good history of Cardiff.  It's really all down to coal and the Bute family as to why Cardiff is the capital now.  Before the industrial revolution it seems that Cardiff was no different from any other Welsh town, in fact it seemed smaller than others.  But with the discovery of coal in the valleys (get a Welsh person to say "the valleys" for you) and the fact that the Bute's spent a lot of money on developing the railways to Cardiff and the docks in Cardiff.  It meant that all the coal was flowing into Cardiff and out again, so a lot of money and people as well.  There are some really lovely Victorian arcades around Cardiff, though now that the coal has stopped the shops are all closing.  But the buildings are still standing.

I think if I was to visit Cardiff again, I would want to go to see a rugby match.  It must be something pretty special, since the stadium is basically in the centre of town.  And apparently everyone gets into it.  I wonder if Australia or New Zealand are touring over here anytime soon?

Spring is in the Air

This weekend has finally felt like the end of winter.  I think it was something like 17 degrees this weekend, that's possibly an exaggeration, but the cold-acclimatised body certainly felt that it was that warm.  So in honour of the beginning of spring here's a sunset from our balcony.  Bring on summer!

The Lake District

Amazing views from Scarfell Pike

We have been very remiss in not getting up to the Lake District since we have been here.  I had the chance to go up recently for a long weekend of walking, and I gotta say, we have been missing out.  That region is aaaamazing, definitely better than the Peaks.  I can understand now why Wordsworth loved it so much.  Even in November, with not particularly great weather it was still so pretty.  The plan was a 3-day circular walk starting at Seathwaite, and visiting 3 of the best dales in the area with hopefully a shot up Scarfell Pike, the highest mountain in England, at a mighty 977m.

The views and the colours - wonderful!

High House Tarn - very misty and no path to speak of

It which such a great weekend, if only all walks could be like that, there were 4 of us, which I gotta say I enjoy.  It's funny walking in a group of 4, you just feel so much safer, even though the terrain is the same and it would still be a pain if one of you got injured.  I guess the idea that even if something did happen there would still be 3 people to share the load of getting everyone back to safety is a lot more reassuring.  When it's only 2 of you, if something happens, it's all up to the other person, which can be a heavy burden to carry.

Looking down on Borrowdale and Seathwaite

But this was like luxurious walking, first of all to have the safety blanket of 3 other people there, as well as staying in great pubs every night.  The Lakes are seriously set up for walkers, it was so easy.  There's all these trails, and if you stay off the Cumbrian Way you actually get up pretty high, well high for England, and you don't have to carry any bedding, because you are staying at a hotel that night.  And no need to carry dinner or breakfast either because that's all laid on, and since it's freaking cold you barely need any water.  So all in all a very easy pack to carry plus some nice beers at the end of each day.  Bliss.

We started off in Seathwaite - which is basically a farm house at the very southern end of Borrowdale.  It seems that the valleys are all called dales here, I think it's something to do with the Vikings.  In the Lakes it's all about the dales and the lakes, and we got to tour 3 of what I think are the best dales, though I've only seen 3. If there are better ones than what I saw, then I am definitely going back.  It was Borrowdale, Langdale and Wasdale, for those who have been there before.  

Looking out on Langdale - a knee crunching descent

Amazing views from the mighty summit

We started off on a pretty cold morning, this was mid November after all.  I was nice and overdressed for our ascent straight up out of the valley.  It wasn't long before we were all shedding layers.  The mists seemed to come and go, every now and again they would clear and you would get a great view across the valley.  The colours were amazing, even in winter the grasses and bracken were looking good.  Since there are no real trees to speak of up there you didn't have the depressing dead tree look either.  It started off pretty misty, but by lunchtime it had started to clear and we were getting amazing views.  I can see why poets were so inspired, it really is so nice up there.  

Looking along Wasdale - as the weather closes in

We couldn't dawdle too much, since the sun was setting at about 4:30pm at that time, but that was one of the best views, coming down into Langdale as the shadows were getting long.  The light and the blue sky was really, that alone, worth the whole weekend.  We were super lucky with our accommodation over the whole weekend, it was uniformly good, and all of them had walkers bars.  Just what you need.

The next day was in stark contrast to the calm, blue skies we had finished the day before with.  This was seriously blowing a gale, with some incredible gusts.  It's really a day that you think, hmmm perhaps I shouldn't be outside.  But we had to battle on, since there was Wasdale to reach.  Mother Nature certainly took her toll that day, there were a few things ripped out of bags and hands.  At some points we had to crouch down on the ground or else it felt like we too would be ripped from the hillside.  I've never had the wind so strong that it actually gets up your nose and pulls the mucus out.  That was both disgusting and fascinating at the same time.  Though it did save on hankies.

Wasdale Head Inn

My only shot of a lake - Wast Water

We were very much in survival mode that day, so it was onto the Cumbrian Way, this walkers super highway, but there was no way we were being blown off it at least.  We didn't stop for lunch either, it was just energy bars and head down.  But it's always nice to have one day of fear in a walk, at least nice when you are safe and warm in a hotel pub.  I think we all knew that it wasn't really strong enough to cause any troubles, so long as we didn't do anything too silly.  The other good thing was that my gear really stood up, at no point was I cold or uncomfortable.  It's always reassuring to know that your gear can handle whatever you might encounter.

The wall up to Scarfell Pike

The next day then dawned this amazing, crystal clear, day.  It's so strange how quickly the weather would change.  It was much colder this day, winter was really starting to roll in, but the skies were beautifully clear.  This was our last chance to climb Scarfell Pike, so it was nice that the weather obliged and gave us our best day for it.  You could not have asked for better conditions, well perhaps less ice on the summit, but otherwise perfect.  

This was the only day that we saw serious numbers of people.  I guess it being a Saturday and such a good day probably didn't help.  When I see all those people out in the wilderness I gotta say I'm glad I'm not a park ranger.  I suppose nothing was going to happen to them that day, but it was still winter and we are a fair way north, and up sort of high, and some people really didn't look prepared if it had started to snow.  I wonder how many rescue operations rangers do have to pull off, I haven't heard of many, but you do wonder if circumstances conspired against people what would happen to them.  Perhaps they are hardier than they look.  

We weren't going to make it too easy for ourselves, there's a long way and a short way to the summit, the long way involves a bit of a detour and follows contours more.  Whereas the short way goes straight up the wall.  Needless to say we took the wall.  It wasn't as bad as what it looks, when you got a bit closer you could see that it was no troubles at all, it just looks a little intimidating from further back.  Not many people were going this way up, and overall I think it may have been slower, even though it was shorter.  

Another view from the top - the rocks are all covered in ice

As we are getting closer to the top there is more and more ice appearing, and once we got to the top of the wall all the rocks were covered in it.  Even though the sun was blazing.  That old angle of incidence really has an effect on the temperature.  You really had to watch your footing up there.  I was impressed by all the people in worn out sand shoes, they must be like mountain goats to not slip over.  The views were incredible, it was like there were no towns for miles, even though you knew that wasn't the case.  It almost felt like proper wilderness.  It's good to know that feeling is still achievable in such a crowded little island.