Hakone

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Day 5/6

The next day after another great breakfast there was time to walk through the town before catching the local train and two shinkansen to at a town where we were to catch the bus to Hakone. Upon arrival our leader advised us that it was snowing up at Hakone for only the third time this winter. This was not the small patches of snow that we had seen in Nikko. The town was covered and we walked carefully to our new ryokan (Fuji Hakone Guest House). We had a warm welcome and once settled made our way into the town for a warm dinner (I chose yams and eggplant). An origami lesson to make Cranes was held back in the ryokan but I took my cold off to bed.

The following day we took the bus to the cable car that would take us to the top of the mountain. From here we might be able to see Mt Fuji. This is often not possible for even on a fine day Fuji herself can be shrouded with clouds. Unfortunately, visibility was poor even for the surrounds and we missed what would have been spectacular views. At the top we did manage to score a black egg called a Owakudani (it had been cooked in sulphur for an hour). It tasted pretty good.

We made our way down to the lake area (Lake Ashi) and after sampling our way through the local coffee/souvenir shop (Japan has some great sweets) took a pirate ship (yes pirate ship) across the lake. My thermals and coat were standing up pretty well but it was cold on the deck with the breeze coming off the water. There were a couple of red Tori gates. This area excels in parquetry style woodcrafts. Very delicate. I bought a thing to hang off my keys only to find it was a symbol for making money!

Stopping off on the way back, we went to an open air museum. Very spectacular with the mountain as backdrop. It had an indoor section with Picasso pieces too.

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Photos

Hakone
View out of my window

Hakone
Snow just for us

Black eggs
Cooked in sulphur

Permanent Picasso Section
No photos allowed inside

Comments

[Hedins]

i love the pirate ship! x Emma