Tokyo! Day 2

Merry Christmas!  I can't believe how the time has flown since I made that last post.  October!!!!  Yipes!  Joe and I have been very busy the last two months, so let's try to pick up where we left off......

It's October, and Joe and I are in Tokyo..........  The next morning we woke up very early to catch the 7am train (Odakyu Romancecar) to Hakone.  This 90-minute train ride takes you 50 miles west of Tokyo.  Hakone is the town almost at the bast of Mt. Fuji.  This was  a wonderful day in the Tokyo countryside.

When we arrived in Hakone, we took a bus up the mountains to get to Lake Ashi.  From here, visitors can normally see Mt. Fuji.  Unfortunately for us, it was a rather cloudy day so the top of Mt. Fuji never came out :(

Outside Hakone train station

The red Torii Gate is for the entrance to a Shinto Shrine.  This vantage point is very famous, as you can normally see Mt. Fuji in the background.

We first made our way to the Shinto Shrine.  This was stunning!  The most exciting part for Joe and I, was that the weather didn't feel like hot, humid Okinawa -- it was actually starting to feel a bit like fall!

Here's the actual shrine at the top of the stairs.  It's an area for prayer and meditation... but also a lot of tourists with cameras!

We then walked to the bottom of the shrine and we able to stand out on the water a bit, underneath the Tori Gate in Lake Ashi (as seen in the first photo).

From there we walked to the ropeway to get to Komaga-take (mountain).  

And then back down again to start our journey around Lake Ashi.  Again, if it had been a clear day, I think we would have stayed a little longer to enjoy views of Mt. Fuji.  It was then time to cross Lake Ashi.... in a pirate ship of course!

Our next mode of transport was ropeway through the mountains.  

 The Hakone area is known to tourists for its natural hot springs.  As we rode on this ropeway we were able to see some of the hot springs in the mountain.

Our next mode of transportation was cable car down the mountain.  This made a few stops at the resort areas in Hakone.

 Our stop was the Open Air Museum.  This was a wonderful park/museum located in the mountains filled with  sculptures.

And even a little natural hot spring for Joe to put is tired feet in!

 

Unfortuantely, after the Open Air Museum, it was time to head back to Tokyo.  It was about 7pm when we arrived back in Shinjuku.  

We finished off a great day with some Asahi nama (on tap) and Osaka style Okonomiyaki.