American House Angel Kiss Ito

On Monday we wanted to go to see (or at least get close to) Mount Fuji. Apparently the warm sunny weather we experienced the previous day was unusual for this time of year. As a result the day was freezing, overcast and we had occasional rain. After a subway journey to Shinjuku station to figure out how to catch the train to Hakone, we bought the 2 day Odakyu Hakone Freepass and jumped on the train to Odawara ...

... weird, but once you crack them they just look a regular old hard boiled egg. They give you some salt but no pepper!
After that we took a cruise on Lake Ashi which is a lake made by a volcanic eruption thousands of years ago. It was a little rough on the lake due to a windy day so we rode in the enlosed part of the boat.
Lunch was at a local restaurant and we tried some interesting foods ...

... seven years to your life – we decided to take our chances.

This ropeway took us up over the peak and then back down to Lake Ashi; a volcanic lake over 700m above sea level. We jumped on a sightseeing cruise across the lake and back aboard a mock 18th century sailing ship (very cute – check out the photos). Back over the ropeways and down to Gora we jumped on a very cute little switchback train which snaked and ...

... the bullet train for now and jumped onto a packed train heading for Hakone Yumoto. This area has been for ages a holiday destination for Tokyo residents – it has hot natural springs, dormant (and not so dormant) volcanoes, mountain settlements and views of Mt Fuji. Just our luck, this weekend is a holiday weekend in Japan as they are celebrating national sports and health day (yeah seriously).

There are holiday makers and day trippers everywhere; the ...

... szczególnie dla Japończyków, gdyż skorupka jajka wrzucona do gorącej siarkowej wody, barwi się na czarno. Myślę, że jest to jedna z niewielu miejsc na świecie, w którym odbywa się masowa konsumpcja jajek na twardo.

Onseny – gorące źródła wykorzystywane są w basenach gdzie nago kąpią się Japończycy (oddzielnie kobiety i mężczyźni). Na szczęście małe ryokany ...

... trails up Fuji but this is the one with public transport options that everyone uses. The Ascending and Descending trails are separate to facilitate efficient travel although we ultimately found that the mountain was so crowded, there was nothing efficient about our trip. On the Ascending route, there is a series of mountain huts scattered from ~2700m all the way to the top (3776m). The huts have spartan places to sleep , basic refreshments, and a place to get ...

... to the thick mist (which is apparently very common) we couldn’t see a thing and had to settle with the picture-perfect postcard we were given on arrival. Our trip finished with a boat ride across the huge lake which was really beautiful. We caught a bus back to Hakone train station, collected our backpacks from the storage lockers we’d hired for the day and boarded the Shinkansen to the small mountain town of Takayama, where we would be spending the next few days.

... to the ryokan, one must enjoy the natural onsen or hot spring baths that are scattered all over Japan. These are just thermal water, some with different chemical or natural elements that help, relieve or soothe the body. It is a long time tradition in Japan and it is ...

This morning Chris met mom and took her to see Tokyo's imperial palace. The Palace itself is inaccessible sans a tour- and we have learned (when Chris and Nic went) that the tour stinks. So, they just went to see it and the moat and walked through the East gardens which mom loved. It was a gorgeous day! They met me at my office at around 11:30 and we headed over to Muy- a great Spanish place in the Tokyo building nearby where you can ...

... views of the mountain peak.

We then drove on to Hakone and took the cable car across to the Owakaduni Valley volcanic area with its steam vents and boiling water pools. Being a volcanic area it had the customary smell of rotten eggs. You could also buy "black eggs" which were eggs boiled in the sulphur-rich water which turned the egg shells black.

After taking the cable car back we got back in the bus and drove on to our final ...