MERRY NON-DENOMINATIONAL WINTER HOLIDAY!!!
(or Merry Christmas)

Well, my first xmas away from home was quite an adventure! I finally got to experience a VERY VERY VERY white Christmas. We had originally planned to go to Nagano prefecture for a few days of skiing. However, our plans were quickly quashed by the biggest snowfall Japan has seen in 60 years. All the expressways shut down and the roads that were open were so jammed with traffic that it was impossible to get anywhere. Considering that on a good day, using the expressways it takes about 6 hours to get to Nagano we started to rethink our original plans. Finally, at the last minute (12pm on the night we were supposed to be leaving) we decided to toss our reservation money down the squatter and head to a closer (and hopefully less snowed in) ski destination, Gifu prefecture.

Thanks to Luciano's new navi, we managed to make it without having to take the expressway. Soon after crossing into Gifu prefecture we realized that the news wasn't exagerating the "biggest snow fall in 60 years claim" ....take a look at the pictures and see what you think.

J