Hakone Part 2

Two days before we left for Hakone I found out that one area of the mountain has been declared a "no go" zone due to increased volcano activity.  Bummer!  It seemed like such an exciting place - with the pits and sulfuric steam it looked like something from an Indian Jones movie.  Plus they boiled eggs in the hot springs (which causes their shells to turn black) and if you eat one it adds seven years to your life.  What a missed opportunity!  The good news about living here - we can go back!

So instead we focus on getting a view of Mt. Fuji and exploring the Lake Ashi area.  We started out with a "little" breakfast at our ryokan.  We opted for the Western version of breakfast.  Cereal!  We hadn't seen it for months.  

We go to Lake Ashi and try our luck with observing Mt. Fuji.  She was being shy and had a little cloud cover, but we could still see the top of her.  It's snow covered, so it blends with the clouds.  It looked more impressive in person! 

Selfie with Mt. Fuji!  No, really - look on the right.

Where's Waldo?  I mean, Mt. Fuji?  Look closely at the left.

Since we didn't get to hike around the volcanic mountain we go into a cedar forest. It was a nice little walk, and at the end we're luckily able to grab a bus that went back to Lake Ashi...after I convince Steve it is not a good idea to walk back along the narrow, windy, lots of blind curves road with no shoulder and cars driving very fast. 

Smell the trees!

We then take a boat tour so we can go across the lake and stop at another location so we can travel up one of the mountains on a ropeway - or gondola, as we normally call them.  At the lake it's beautiful and still partly cloudy.  But at the top, we watch the clouds come in....

At the top - what view??

At the lake

I do get one good picture before the clouds block everything.  That's Lake Ashi in the foreground and past the mountain range is the Pacific ocean in the background, with the sun about to set.

When we return to our ryokan, we're glad to have a nice soak in our onsen before another scrumptious dinner.  

Do they sell these in the gift shop??

Different flowers tonight!

This is nothing special - I always present my food like this at home.  Ha!

As we're packing up the next morning, the thing Steve dreads the most finally happens - he smashes his head on one of the low door sills.  Ouch!  He has me take a picture so he can see the cut, but I don't know which is worse - the pain from the injury or Steve realizing he's started to go bald.  I try to hold back from telling him it's been like that for a couple years now...

So sad!

We enjoy our train ride back to Tokyo, but we're sad to leave Hakone.

Good news from the kennel!  The dogs did well.  Tie-Dye was a little stressed at first, but luckily we found a place run by the Japanese version of Cesar Millan, and he helped Tie-Dye settle in.  They even made some new friends!  Yes!  This means more travels for us!

Who is this dog and why is he jumping on me?  Tahoe, help!

Hakone Part 1

I would not want to drive on the windy roads - especially on the left side!

We love to travel but living in Tokyo with two dogs causes some issues - like what to do with them so you can run around the Eastern part of the world?  I check out about a dozen different kennels and finally find one I think I'm comfortable with leaving our dogs.  So we decide to go away for a weekend to "test" how they'll do.  We want to make it the best trip possible, because it might be our only chance to leave Tokyo in two years!  

We choose Hakone, a resort area two hours from Tokyo. (Or about four hours if Google doesn't match up your times correctly so you don't realize you can take the bullet train without having to then take a bus and walk half a mile.  But hey, the train we took was called the "Romancecar" - which sounds lovey-dovey but is really just a regular train, with nice bathrooms & a cafe car.  I love train travel!)  We then have to take an incline train that switchbacks up the mountain.  It's really only scary when it goes by a group of maintenance guys on the side of the tracks.  If I could understand Japanese, I'm sure I would have heard, "Do you think the repair will hold?"  "Well, I guess we'll find out - if the train falls in the ravine, then it won't."  Luckily, it held.

We are greeted at the train station by a gentleman from the inn, so he can drive us there in a new E-class Mercedes, which takes all of 2 minutes.  Check-in is a breeze, and we are brought to our room and given a sweet & green tea as a welcome.

Our attendant (in formal kimono) answering Steve's question on how to cut the sweet served with our green tea.  I'm glad he asked, because I would have picked it up with my hand to eat it - but instead you use the giant cocktail pick (that's what it looked like) to cut it in half, then spear the half and eat it.  Sometimes eating in Japan is stressful!

Our private backyard with our 125 degree onsen.

We stay at a ryokan, or a traditional Japanese inn.  The best part of our room is the onsen (natural hot spring tub) in our private "backyard."  The area has some volcanic activity (as we learned - but not quite as firsthand as you might think) that causes it to heat the underground springs, and a lot of the ryokans in the area use them to create baths.  It was so hot that after getting out I could stand in the 28 degree night air for five minutes before I cooled off (now I'm wondering how healthy that really is....my temperature must have gotten really high).  We're glad to have our own private onsen because you're not allowed to wear a bathing suit or any clothes when you are in it!  Public ones have separate baths for males and for females.

In our yukatas - could I get away with walking the dogs wearing just this?

Our room has tatami mat floors, we sleep on futons placed on the floor (very comfortable), and we can wear yukatas (cotton kimonos that are provided by the hotel) everywhere.  It's basically a cotton robe with a nice sash (and weird socks). 

Kanpai!  No calls from the kennel yet saying our dogs have eaten another dog.

That evening we are served a private kaiseki at our room's dining table. (Yes, sitting on the tatami mats with a table 18" off the ground.  It is surprisingly comfortable.)  A kaiseki is a traditional multi-course Japanese meal.  It usually corresponds with the four seasons with regards to the serving dishware, the arrangement of the food, and the ingredients themselves.  Each course is a small portion, so you can eat it all. 

Dinner

Even the sake is served beautifully!

One of our courses

  Me using the black & white feature of the phone to show Steve why the ferns (from the picture on the left) are upside down in the bowl - the front of the ferns are the same color value as the red bowl. (See how they're the same shade of grey above?)  So the back of the ferns are used to provide more contrast (light against dark).  Quilting color theory at work!

After the big meal and another soak in the onsen, we settle down in our futons for a good night's sleep.

The Underground Mystery

I discover a mystery game that is organized around the Tokyo Metro.  We have to play!  My dream is to be on the Amazing Race (I figure in a few more years we can be one of the "older" couples on the show), so this is a great opportunity to see how we'd do.  We happily go off and buy our kit and have lunch while we decipher the first clue.  

It starts off pretty easy...except for a little translation issue.  We do have an English version, but they use the word "alphabet" instead of "letters."  In hindsight it makes sense, but it takes a few minutes to figure it out.

Steve solves the first mystery before we leave the station!

I'm sure wine will help us solve mysteries faster!

The first set of puzzles are pretty straightforward and simple.  We enjoy riding around to the different stations and getting to explore outside a bit.  The booklet includes some information about the stations and the area around them, so we learn a little about Tokyo, too.  I'm able to show Steve the Tokyo Dome, where the International Quilt Festival will take place in January.  Something else is happening there today, and there's some kind of silent protest going on, but it's all in Japanese so we never figure it out (oooh, an unsolved mystery...). 

We're not the only ones playing!

Steve's back is a good surface for drawing a straight line.

Then things get a little tricky...we stop for some tea and snacks (maybe wine wasn't a good idea earlier...something to remember if we're on the Amazing Race).

We are puzzled.

Then inspiration strikes!  Should have been more careful when tearing pages open....

We run around some more....the mysteries are getting more clever....seriously, look at the posters below.  If there hadn't been thirty people standing right in front of it, we would have missed it (well, I would have).  And yes, it does state it's a clue in English. 

Look carefully...

We're excited to stop by our home station as part of the game.  That's the highlight of the day for Steve - he discovers we have a doughnut shop hidden on the far side of our station.  (side note - He's gone for doughnuts almost every day since.)

Hello, dogs!  We'll be home soon...maybe.

The best part of the day for Steve!

There's still puzzles to solve, and some more stations to visit, and we complete all our tasks except for the final answer.  We decide to sleep on it...but it's bothering me during the night.  The next day I sit down with everything again.  Steve and I discuss it, and just like with the other mysteries, we end up solving it with teamwork.  We can't wait to play again next year!

We are awesome!

Amazing Race, here we come!