Breafkast was at 8 in the dining room. The room was beautiful, but there was little in the way of vegetarian choices. We had some lettuce, egg and rice. Chloe got a snoopy rice bowl. A short walk down to Tonosawa, then we tried to figure out which bus. Finally the third one that stopped was the correct one. A half-hour later we were at the lake in Hakone-machi. We upgraded our pirate ship tickets (yes pirate ship) to first class. The boat pulled in and we headed on up. The girls enjoyed the trip (they better have, because the boat was what had them begging to go to Hakone in the first place.) Unfortunately, the day was way too cloudy for us to get to see Mt. Fuji.
Off the boat, up the stairs and into a gondola on the long ropeway. With the fog and clouds, it was a very eerie ride. We stopped at Okunadai to walk up to the sulfur pits. We ate black eggs, increasing our life span by 7 years. Another ride on the gondola to a funnicular to take us down. Thankfully, we managed to be going the opposite way of the crowds for all these rides! Off the funnicular and onto the switchback train. Whew.
At the Hakone Open Air Museum, the girls had a fantastic time playing on all the climbing art, like the castle of nets and the crystal city. We also saw lots of sculptures in a nice natural setting, visited the Picasso pavilion and soaked feet in a big footbath. Train down to Hakone to get soem groceries at the 7-11, then train back to the pathway to the hotel. The train station is in the middle of the woods; it is strange to get off a train and head down a trail!
Even here, where there are pedestrians, curvy roads, lost drivers and giant tour buses, traffic moves well. The cars (we’ve seen no old cars) have no visible marks of accidents and I’ve seen not a single accident the whole time we’ve been in Japan. How do they do it?
Toilets are everywhere. It makes everything so much easier to have such easily accessible bathrooms. Of the hundreds we’ve been in, there’s only been one that was smelly. They are all spotless.
You guys are getting to do some incredible things! I think I would be a mess not knowing where to go or how to do things. And the public bath? Ack!
You guys are so adventurous! Upgrading to first class on the pirate ship cracks me up for some reason 🙂 Are you going to rest for those extra seven years?
Rest? I don’t think so 🙂 My girls have come to view confusion as adventure. A very good attitude, IMO.
I’ll catch up soon; I’m dying to share what we did today!!