European Hotel Glass no Shiro 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 ...

Today we had a great day exploring outside of Tokyo at the Hakone National Park. It is about 80 km outside of Tokyo. We took a bus to the park where we took the ropeway (gondola) up to the area where there are sulfur springs due to the volcanic activity in the area. We had beautiful views of Mt. Fuji, who had had her first snow the night before. Once we got to the area of the springs, our guide told ...

... has very friendly staff and lots of visitors from all over the world. After a short rest and a much needed shower, we found our way to a curry house and enjoyed the kind hospitality of the owner (and some yummy Japanese style curries). Our beds beckoned and we rested our travel weary bodies.

Tomorrow we check out some sights in Kyoto and are looking forward to the wealth of historic sites that Kyoto is home to.

Sayonara.

... 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 ...

... Przede wszystkich siedzi się na podłodze przy bardzo niskich stolikach, na małych poduszkach i obowiązkowo zarówno goście jak i obsługa chodzą bez butów (podobnie jak w ryokanie). Jedzenie tofu pałeczkami wciąż jest wyzwaniem (tofu jest bardzo miękkie), ale dawaliśmy radę. Stolik obok siedziała inna para, z którą wspólnie wznieśliśmy toast sake (bez stukania się kieliszkami) i w momencie kiedy pad ...

... and they assured us we would be off the mountain by then so took them. It turned out later that the return reservation was more of a "suggestion" than anything else.

Meera and I arrived in Shinjuku, Tokyo to pick up our tickets and got on our full buses to Fuji 5th station at 7:30p on Saturday night. Along the way, I got to see fireworks and this mysterious line of lights going up into the sky that I later learned was the huts and climbers already on the ...

... onsen as inconspicuously as possible. Very unfortunately, I somehow managed to become lost inside the changing room, attracting lots of attention whilst I desperately tried to locate the exit. I eventually asked a nearby family but they didn’t understand me and directed me to the toilet instead. After a while they finally realised what I was asking, and showed me the exit, but not before they kindly tied my Kimono up properly for me :) We were feeling pretty exhausted ...

... 8211; 1) get nude 2) soap and rinse your whole body prior to entering the baths 3) slowly enter the hot spring 4) sit down and 5) enjoy. It is unforgivable to put your hand towel into the water so don’t do that, and thus I folded it and placed it on my head, just ...

... you just jump on as the gondolas come by. The thing has 60 spokes and 60 cards and looks like a giant clock at night with a second hand lighting up on each of the spokes. Chris got quite nervous as we got to the top and kept commenting that it was too windy and I was a little uncomfortable as well. From here we bought the obligatory mug at Starbucks and took the train back to Yokohama station and then back to Tokyo.

We had breakfast at the hotel and were then picked up for our tour to Mt.Fuji. The first stop was at a service station on the way down to Mount Fuji to allow people to get a drink and stretch their legs. As it was such a clear day you could see the peak of Mt.Fuji from the service station.

A few minutes later we were on our way to the viewing area on Mt.Fuji. Due to snow we went to the second level from the bottom but it still had ...