Once we'd boarded the Hayate there was a comfortable stretch retracing part of the previous day's route, followed by a switch to a local service that delivered us into Nagano just after six. There was some slight confusion about the location of the hotel, which seemed to have changed names recently, but nothing major and by seven we were booked in and back downstairs scoping out the eating options.
Given the number of options in the immediate area and the lack of any commitments, deciding on a particular eatery wasn't as easy as it might sound. In most other places along the way there was either an obvious choice, or some other factor that made things a done deal, but here we had a number of possible options, and it was down to what we felt like.
Madam had flashed through a couple of options on the iPad before we left, and we'd decided the preferred option was a Japanese-Italian drinking place (drinks with plates of nibbles), noting a number of other possibilities as a fall back.
Complications set in when we found another couple of options just down the road from the hotel, a meat on skewers barbecue place and a relatively pricey French restaurant, but we pressed on, locating the preferred option only to discover it was full except for a couple of places at the bar, which might have suited someone else, but didn't appeal to us.
Across the road there was a Vietnamese place, where the menu in Japanese and mutual unfamiliarity with the ins and outs of the cuisine meant we weren't sure about that one's, so we were off in search of others. Recognized another fusion place from Madam's iPad info we were about to head inside when Madam noticed the Closed - Private Function sign and we ended up in another fusion place that was, as far as She could make out, a young people's drinks and nibbles hangout.
If that was the case, I found the all-Beatles soundtrack bemusing, to say the least.
What followed was a succession of little platters - Vietnamese style salmon and prawn spring rolls, a pasta marinara, char sieu pork finished off at the table with a blowtorch were three of them - that added up to a substantial meal and went down rather well with a couple of Suntory Premium Lagers.
From there we meandered back to the hotel, not quite replete, but definitely in a neighboring post code, and for Hughesy, at least, it was a matter of another early night, followed by an early morning catching up on the Travelogue.