Natural Garden Hotel Nikko

Toured the temples at Nikko today. Very impressive, but the fact that everything was in Japanese (no English) and I don't know much about Buddism, it was really a matter of walking around and admiring these cool buildings. I bought a picture book rather than trying to take a bunch of amateurish photos - maybe I can get my daughter to translate?<br><br>Because of this, touring the site only ...

... sprich gestern, das Wasser ausgelassen... was man ja eigentlich nicht tut, weil man sich ja eh vorher waescht bevor man reinsteigt... naja, dazu sind wir ja hier, um dazu zu lernen und nicht, um schon alles angeberisch zu wissen. Pft XD<br><br>So ca. in ner halben Stunde machen wir uns mit Freude auf zum Bahnhof, wo`s dann zurueck nach Utsunomiya geht, wo wir dann hoffentlich moeglichst problemslos einen Shinkansen Richtung Aomori bzw ...

Note to self: Don't create passwords with strange characters when you're going to have to use a foreign keyboard...<br><br>Returned to the ryokan for dinner and met some of the other guests. Two couples from Australia and one from Germany. Had (an amazing) dinner with the Ozzies. Eventually I'll get photos up, but think fish, rice, sashimi ...

Nun, gestern haben wir schweren Herzens mein geliebtes Tokyo hinter uns gelassen und haben unsere erste Shinkansenfahrt gen Nikko angetreten. <br>Es gab ein paar Zeitprobleme, allerdings fahren diese Zuege so ca. alle 20 min, darum war das dann auch nicht wirklich ein Problem. Allerdings kamen wir genau wie vorhergesagt, jedoch nicht wie geplant irgendwann nach 6, also dann, als schon finster war, in der menschenleeren Kleinstadt... naja, im Vergleich zu ...

Today I went on my first outing on my lonesomen (without the aid of my guide Toshimi). I decided to go Nikko, a town north of Tokyo which features an interesting temple, a beautiful lake, and a fresh mountain air experience. After a little confusion at the train station I finally got on the right train which would take me north of Tokyo and toward my destination. Half of the fun of using the train as transportation is you get to see a ...

... was its roar. The main hall of Toshogu was boring and I skipped the Sleeping Cat carving and Ieyasu's tomb, because I had to buy an extra ticket for them. The last important place to visit was Taiyuin temple, which is Iemitsu's tomb. It was simpler and more peaceful than Toshogu and I liked it.<br> <br>The ticket for 2 shrines and 1 temple cost only 1000 yen and I think the price is ...

... They were very helpful and we got public bus tickets, expensive $20 (like everything else here) and rode out a half hour up a windy mountain road to Chuzen-ji Lake. From the bus stop we walked 300 meters to Kegon Falls, pretty nice as far as falls goes, similiar but not as nice as Akaka Falls, Hawaii... I'm just saying. Then we walked to the lake and was a little bummed out by the hiking trail options and it started to ...

... las dos calles principales, unas exposiciones con estatuas de cera representando la vida de los samurais y los metodos de tortura de sus prisiones y, por supuesto, tiendas de souvenirs. Tenian mascota y todo, Nyan-mage, pero era un poco cutre: un gato blanco con pelo de samurai.<br><br><br>Lo primero que vimos fue un espectaculo de ninjas, en forma de teatro. Te contaban una historia de un ninja al que su maestro manda en una mision Aparecen unos ninjas malos, que matan a su ...

... JPY. Anyways, after I drop off my stuff at the hotel I head back to Nikko to finish my sightseeing and check out this festival everyone has been talking about. Turns out this "festival" consists of 15 individuals who ride up a 300m long street on a horse and shoot arrows at 3 stationary targets. No prizes, no winner . It was actually pretty cool but I am not sure "festival" would be the right word to describe it. Not sure what the event was celebrating. It ...

Was told the night before it would be "brrr" in the morning but never realized how "brrr" until meekly putting one foot out from under the layers and layers of blankets the lodge owner insisted on giving me. Once I had summoned the coverage to get up and work out the Japanese controls on the room heater I was welcomed by both another sunny day in Nikko and an unexpected breakfast (was this really only 3500 Yen ...