Anniversary Excursion
As a 6-month anniversary present, I took Riccardo on a one-day trip to famous Hakone. Hakone is a small mountain-side town about 60kms South of Tokyo; a very popular tourist destination among Japanese natives. Nori-chan was kind enough to book us a Ryokan (Japanese style hotel) right in the center of the city (thanks honey!!) and we were lucky to be in town for their annual festival.I booked us on a "Romance Car" - special express train specific to this route - from Shinjuku to Hakone, which arrived around 6pm. We rushed to the hotel to be on time for our pre-scheduled in-room dinner. A table-full of food later, we were content to have a lazy night. After a short walk through town, we relaxed in the private, indoor onsen (hot spring bath).
The next morning we followed a procession of Japanese folk up the mountainous town and nuzzled into an optimal parade-viewing spot. Actually, Hakone's parade was a lot shorter than the one we viewed in Okazaki last March, but in my opinion, the musical numbers were better quality.
Back in the center of town, we patiently waited our turn to take the train partway up a mountain to commence our tour-route. I had no idea the town festival was such a big deal, but apparently everyone and their dog, in the free world had to experience Hakone that day. After the nearly hour-long up-hill train ride, we waited to board a cable car which took us still further up the mountain. And just when we thought we couldn't get any higher, we waited just a little more for a speedy tram that offerred a spectacular view of Hakone and it's surrounding mountainscapes.
At the top of the mountain, we plugged our noses to avoid the sulfurous stench and debated ingesting the famous black egg. Said to add seven years to one's life, these eggs were anything but appetizing. Perhaps I would have been more inclined to try one if the overwhelming stench of sulfur hadn't put me onto a good up-chuck already. Or perhaps it was that a single egg couldn't be purchased, but rather, there was a half-dozen minimum. Ew.
A death-defying bus ride halfway down the mountain brought us to a picturesque lake, from which, on a clear day, one is supposed to be able to view Mt. Fuji. It wasn't clear. Just as the sun was setting we boarded a fantastic pirate ship that took us across the length in a half-hour ride. Then in was onto another bus and back to the train station where we had perfectly scheduled our arrival to coincide with our departure back to Toyko.
In a breif stop in Harajuku, I introduced Riccardo to the fabulous fare at the Wolfgang Puck express restaurant. Without too much trouble, we found the infamous "Love Hotel Hill" in Shibuya, and had quite an enjoyable time shopping the picture-boards in a number of hotels for a suitable room. Being fairly exhausted from our long day didn't stop us from enjoying a bubble bath in our extra-large jetted tub and a few rounds of karaoke on the flat-screen. Good times!
The next day was Ueno Day, one we've been trying to have for months. We headed to a park that is filled with every type of museum one can imagine and made our first stop the Japan National History Museum complex. Basically this museum served as the major headquarters for all things Japanese; a massive compilation of all the historical artifacts and nicknacks that can be seen in town museums, and more.
Finally we spent the afternooon in the National Museum of Western Art, which featured a broad range of ancient to modern artwork by an array of accomplished names. I was most interested to see "Water Lilies" by Monet which is a permant fixture in the Impressionist exhibit at the museum; it's my favourite painting.
Thanks to Nori for booking our Ryokan, to Cynthia for switching my Thursday afternoon class, and to Riccardo for joining me on this mini-adventure!
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