And as expected I dozed off.

I was supposed to wake up a bit early on Wednesday (6-Feb) to take in the beauty of nature
around Hotel Aeria Tohno, where we stayed for the last 4 days. But, as expected, I switched
off the alarm clock when it rang at 7AM and dozed off again only to wake up late (yet again).

Since we were checking-out on Thursday, I was determined not to miss what could be my
last and only chance at Tono, though another visit to Tono cannot be entirely ruled out.
I had to stay up till like 2AM at night for some discussions with my Indian & American
colleagues and so, chances of my waking up early, looked bleak.

But, I willed myself out of bed at 7AM, got ready, finished breakfast and went out of the
hotel. Man, it was bone-chilling cold. But the beauty of the place more than made up for
the weather. I ventured out and started taking pictures of the whole place. But after
sometime, I could not even feel my own finger, due to the cold.

So, when I was thinking that I am zooming in, nothing would happen on the viewfinder,
because my fingers were so numb from the cold, that I could not even press the zoom
button. I did have leather gloves with me, but handling a camera with gloves on, is not easy.
So, after taking some real nice snaps, I had to rush back to the warm comfort of the hotel.

I am yet to download the snaps to my laptop. Will do that tonight and post here.

Tono is such a beautiful place guarded by mountains on all four sides and I guess the snow
adds to the beauty. Now, if only it were not so cold here, it would have been just perfect. :-)

More than Tono town itself, nature's beauty is much more evident during the drive from
Tono to Shin Hanamaki station. It is a 45 km drive (takes an hour) on roads cut through mountains and the view on either side is to kill for. Unfortunately clicking snaps from the
car was not giving good results.

Also I had colleagues with me, who just wanted to get back home (Tokyo) and thus would
not have liked to stop the car every now and then, for me to admire nature's beauty and
to take pictures. But if there is a next time, I will surely go for it, colleagues be damned.