We switched trains at Ofuna and headed for Odawara. This was about a 40 minute ride, with almost no one on the train. A lot of traffic was going the other way into Tokyo, but going away was very light. At Odawara it was time to switch again. This time to the Odakyu Hakone Tozan. We purchased a "Free" Pass to get around Hakone for the day. In variation from the name it is actually 3900 Yen for the pass.
From Odawara we headed to Hakone Yumoto station, we stayed in the same area but headed for a different car. The next train was very intere3sting it was much shorter than any train I have been on. This was to allow for its use on switchbacks. It is only one track, so as one train goes to a stop it waits until the train in the opposite direction is at that stop and then proceeds on. It took 40 minutes to get from Hakone Yumoto to Gora.
At Gora we walked around and head to Gora Park. It is a very nice park with a lot of plants, trees, and a fountain. I also purchased my puzzle box from the gift store there. Hakone is known for puzzle boxes, it is a 10 move box. Next up it was Cablecar time. The Cablecar was up a pretty steep incline in 6 stops it gained about 220 meters of elevation. Ears popped twice. The car itself was interesting as it was in steps so as the car went up everybody was on a level platform.
We arrived at Sounzan and switched to the Ropeway. When the car took off I thought we had been launched up the mountain, it was a pretty good trip up to the first stop. Incredible views of the Owakudani steam vent area. At Owakundani we hiked up the hillside and got some nice shots out into the valley. We also tried the famous black egg. It is an egg boiled in the hot-springs, but because of the high sulfur content it colors the eggs black. It tastes just like any other hard boiled egg, but it is the thing to do at that stop. Next we headed down to Togendai at the head of Lake Ashi.
At this point besides the black egg our stomachs wanted to be filled so we wandered around town looking for a place to eat. We settled on the place where the owner came out and said English menus after looking around town. Great choice had an awesome Katsu Curry dish. And the view was great out into the lake. After lunch we headed to the Sightseeing Cruise "Pirate" ship. It took around 20 minutes to get from Togendai to Hakone Machi. Got some nice pictures of the lake. The downside to going today was it was cloudy so there was no chance at all to see Fuji-San. Oh well perhaps next trip.
From Hakone Machi we walked and got some ice cream, I went with Banana. Which happens to be delicous in any language. After that pit stop we headed to the Hakone Checkpoint. A very interesting place. When the transistion of power happened and Edo (Tokyo) became the seat of power for the empreror over Kyoto they built this checkpoint. Its main purpose was to keep weapons and women from going south to Kyoto. History is pretty crazy sometimes. The next stop was the Cedar Avenue, which I got some good shots of. Most of the trees in the avenue are over 360 years old. Duanting to think about someone planting something that long ago and it still being here today. In America we would have chopped it down long ago for firewood. After getting a few shots of the waterborn Tori it was time for the last different mode of transit, bus. It took 30 minutes to get from Moto Hakone to Yumoto station. We hopped back on the train to Odawara.
It was now time to check out my first Japanese castle. It took around 10 minutes to walk from Odawara Station to the castle grounds. Around 7 minutes into transit my camera got to wear my hat because it started dumping. The rain lasted the entire time we were in Odawara. On the castle grounds they have some form of monkey in a cage. We headed inside around 20 minutes before closing. They had shut the ticket counter down so we got in for free. They had a lot of artifacts invloving the castle inside. It was 4 stories tall, at the top you could get out and see around. On a clear day the view is fantastic. On a rainy day, it just looks like it perhaps might be awesome on a clear day.
We headed back to Odawara to catch the train back to Ofuna, we caught the express so it took less time. It may have been the sulfur fumes from the black egg stop but we all took a little nap on the train ride. At Ofuna we transfered to the JR Yokosuka line, which insteresitngly enough started service 120 years ago on June 16th. We got on the 2nd car of this train and headed back to Yokosuka. Now the thing about this train on this route is the first 4 cars do not go past Zushi, which is 4 stops from Yokosuka. Right when we got to Zushi I remembered so we rushed back 3 cars and got in. We when got back into Yokosuka We decided it was a fine evening for some Curry and Nan. And when one wants Curry and Nan in Yokosuka one would be foolish to eat any other place than Nirvanan on Blue Street. Delicous as always.
That about raps it up. In conclusion Hakone gets two thumbs up and would be a great place to spend a weekend. It is full of hot-springs and great places to hike and with the Free Pass you can get around for 2 days on 3900 Yen pretty good for all that you can see. Just try to schedule it for a clear weekend and it would make an excellent trip.
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| October 17th |
1 comment:
Sounds tiring! The bus turning around in that painted circle is crazy. All that time living in California, I never knew Bougainvillea was referred to as "Mrs. Butt". I know the perfect gift you can give Elyse: a Japanese cat magazine!!!!
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