A day trip to Karuizawa! One-way ticket is about 5000yen but a friend got us a cheap 6000yen two-way ticket so there we go. It is only about 1hr from Tokyo station so a day trip is totally possible. My friend brought champagne and olives so we started having a party inside the Shinkansen. She even brought ice to keep the champagne chilled, also wine glasses, which apparently were cheapy ones bought in 100yen shop so we just dropped them into the rubbish bin when we arrived at the Karuizawa station! XD!

Hermitage de Tamula (エルミタージュ・ドゥ・タムラ)
Apparently this is THE place to go for a nice lunch in Karuizawa.

サーモンのマリネを新米ともに。
Salmon marinade with rice. There is ikura(salmon roe) and a quail egg underneath.

そばパン。 海の幸と野菜の一皿。
Soba bread. Olive paste is really good.
Seafood and vegetables dish – so pretty! Sauce is beets, tomato and Rucola.

キノコのパイ包み、アンコウ添え。
Mushroom pie, with fried Anko(Monk fish).

金目鯛、春菊のソース。
ドンブ産ウズラ、キャベツのプレゼ包み。
Kinmedai(Alfonsino) in Shungiku(Chrysantemum leaves) sauce.
Quail with cabbage. Under the quail leg is polenta.

My friends’ desserts. The apple soup is the chef’s specialty apparently.

コーヒー風味のモンブラン。
I had the safe coffee Mont blanc. Petit fours.

Right pic is the madam sending off my friends. Lunch is 8400yen. Glass wine is 2100yen so it is better to share bottle wine which we did. Tax is included, service charge is 10%. I like the food alright. With a lovely environment like this, even cup noodles will taste fantastic. XD!! We sat inside in the main dining area but the tables next to the window have a better view of the greens outside. Oh by an amazing coincidence…I bumped into a friend on the way to the toilet!! XD!!

We didn’t actually plan it but somehow we went at the perfect timing – red leaves! It was sunny so we took a long walk after lunch.

Resort houses.

Beautiful pond called Kumobaike(雲場池) which is about half an hour walk from our lunch place.

Red leaves red leaves everywhere.

It was more than half an hour walk from the pond to “Old Karuizawa”. It turned dark very quickly and got quite cold…but I couldn’t resist getting the famous “soft cream” while walking around “Karuizawa Ginza” shopping area. Also bought pudding and cheesecake from Paomu as souvenir.

Kawakamian (川上庵)
Before we took the train back to Tokyo, we went to a popular soba shop, which looks more like a trendy dining restaurant than a soba place! Luckily we booked in advance cos the queue was really long.

牡蠣天ぷら。 鴨南蛮そば（大）。
Oyster tempura and duck nanban soba(large size).