A few weeks after we came back to Tokyo we headed to Hakone for two days of sightseeing. Our friends recommended a ryokan in the area so we made a reservation for one night (in March!). We were hoping to do some leaf peeping but the leaves hadn't yet changed. It was still beautiful. We are always happy to get out of the city and into the mountains and trees.
Hakone is a popular day trip from Tokyo, it is also a good viewing point for Mt. Fuji (pictured in ultra zoom on the left) and there are lots of hot springs which make it an onsen (natural hot springs) mecca. We took the train to Hakone and arrived Saturday at about noon. We stopped off for some lunch before we hopped on the bus. We made our way to Ashi-no-ko (Lake Ashi) and boarded a boat. We rode for about 40 minutes to the other side of the lake. It was nice to be out on the water and we took lots of pictures of Mt. Fuji (unfortunately, it wasn't clear so the mountain was difficult to see) and of the torii (gates) that stand in the lake. The top picture on the right is of one of the torii in Ashi-no-ko.
Once on the other side of the lake we boarded a gondola and made our way up the mountain and to Owaku-dani. Owaku-dani was once a part of the mountain but part of it was blown away during a volcanic eruption. The area is now bare rock with sulfurous steams of air blowing out of the ground. It looked a little bit like another planet. The boat ride was cold and being up at Owaku-dani was cold too so we didn't stay outside too long. This stop on the gondola is famous for the sulfur and for the boiled eggs. Someone decided to boil eggs in the
steaming, hot sulfurous water that comes out of the ground. During the boiling process, the eggs turn black. We were too cold to actually walk to the area where they do this so we headed
back to the gondola.We made our way via the gondola to our ryokan.
We were cold and were ready to get into the hot springs!! We arrived to our room and changed into our yukata and made our way to our balcony. We actually had our very own private stone bath. Needless to say, we spent a lot of our time in there because it was such a unique experience. Here is a picture of the Chris enjoying the bath before check-out.
After a good soak, we made our way into our room where we were served our dinner. Like all ryokans, we were served multiple courses and it was all delicious!! Nicole said that this was the best Japanese meal she has had since living in Japan. The presentation was beautiful and the service was outstanding. Here is a picture of one of the many dishes we were served. We are such foodies so we took pictures of every single thing we were served. This was the sushi portion. It was served on a wire net with crushed ice underneath.
We were so full so after dinner we walked around the ryokan and made our way to the library. We sat down in some lounge chairs and read magazines for a while. When we returned to our room we headed back into the hot tub!! We wanted to take advantage of our facilities so we went in for another dip before bed.We woke up the next morning and had breakfast served in our room. The breakfast was Japanese style and was delicious. We have said this before but grilled fish, rice and soup are really very nice in the morning. After stuffing ourselves (again!), we headed into the tub and enjoyed it one last time until we checked out :(
We were so sad to leave the inn but it was a great experience.
After we left the inn we headed back to the gondola and made our way to the other side of the mountain. When we got to the lake, we boarded a bus and took it to the famous Hakone grasslands. It was basically very tall grass all along the side of a long hill. It was really pretty and it sounded nice when the wind blew. We stopped and took a lot of pictures before heading back to the bus.
Our next stop was Miyanoshita. There were lots of cute shops and a bakery so we decided to stop and take a look. We stopped in one shop and purchased two little statues as souvenirs.
We then walked to the Hakone tozan train and took that to the Hakone Open Air Museum. The museum is amazing because it uses nature as a backdrop. The museum showcases 400 sculptures on display, both outdoors and in several buildings, with works by Carl Milles, Manzu Giacomo, Willem de Kooning, and Joan Miró. They also have a foot onsen where you take off your shoes and put your feet in steaming, hot water. Not too bad! We didn't make it into any of the buildings because we spent all of our time walking around outdoors. The picture above is of Chris doing his best impersonation of the sculpture behind him.
At this point, it was getting late and we needed to get home. We boarded a bus and headed to the train station. Unfortunately, we hit traffic and it took about 45 minutes to get there :( However, we stopped off at a shop and purchased an owl clock so we felt much better and forgot all about the traffic! We also bought some of the famous, black hard boiled eggs to take home with us.
Sayonara Hakone!
さよなら はこね
