We Love Hakone!

After disembarking from our ship and meeting Mr. Ohara –our driver for the next four days, we headed to the Odawara Art Foundation.  What a beautiful place and Odawara’s art was quite interesting.  John posed in front of “Endless Ocean”, a work that John Bon Jovi featured on the cover of an album.  Also, the cherry blossoms were gorgeous!

We stopped for lunch at a Japanese quick stop and had fun ordering.

Our next stop was at the Okada Museum of Art.  The outside was pretty amazing with a gigantic gold leaf mural on the wall and with a gallery outside of it with a foot bath for each seat.

Inside were a collection of armor, kimona, paintings and more – all wonderful to see.  However, no photographs were allowed so nothing for you.

We headed to our fabulous resort. It was only five rooms — each one with an onsen (think very, very hot tub of constantly flowing mineral water) and a sauna, all with views of Mt. Fuji. The staff did everything they could to make you more comfortable and happy. Here are some pictures.

Rather than getting a rollaway in our living room, we had the daybed made up for sleep — not sacrificing any of our space. And then we experienced how they treat their guests at dinner!!

And I was able to order a bottle of wine, but since I was the only one drinking, it could be used over the entire stay.

In the morning…

On the second day in Hakone, we went to the Hakone Open Air Museum.  This might have been my most favorite stop of the entire trip – it was absolutely fabulous!!!  Enjoy it all…..

Then a quick lunch at a gyoza stop.

By the way, we loved our guide for the first two days in Hakone. I can’t remember her name to tell you.

In the afternoon on the second day in Hakone, we went to the ropeway (gondola) to ascend the mountain for the views of Mt. Fuji and to enjoy the steam escaping the hillside. And to see the black eggs.

Both John and Kathryn posed in front of the black egg statue. You can put a raw egg in front of the steam coming from the sides of the volcano and it will cook and turn black. If you eat the egg it will add seven years to your life. We all took a pass!

Then back down another side to the lake.

Later in the afternoon, we took a pirate ship tour of Lake Ashi, a crater lake created by a volcanic eruption from Mt. Fuji in 857. Pretty views and warm inside!

Once on the stop on the other side of the lake, we met Mr. Ohara and stopped briefly at the shrine gates where couples were lined up to be photographed standing under the gates.

Our first stop on the next day was at a small lake surrounded by cherry blossom trees.  It was so pretty; we had to take lots of pictures.

We moved on to a world heritage site close to Mt. Fuji.

John had to go shopping before we left, He bought the t-shirt on the left.

We went back to our marvelous room where John and Kathryn went to the onsen before we left for dinner — Kathryn and John at dinner in the leisure wear that was in our suite.

On our last day, on the way to the airport, we went to see the giant Buddha in Kamakura, cast in 1252 – a major tourist attraction!  Kathryn and John even went inside it. On the way to Kamakura, the fog was so thick that you could not see far ahead.

It was truly inspiring to see the Buddhists bowing, lighting incense and praying before him. 

We next went into Hase Kanon Temple.

For some strange reason we couldn’t get out of the parking lot.  Mr. Ohara had to flag down an attendant who came and fixed the machine so we could leave.

We had one final meal at Din Tai Fung before arriving at Haneda airport for our flight back home. 

Just as interesting side note, we arrived home on a Thursday, exhausted from a very, very long day of travel.  Already at our house were my sister Anne and niece Heather.  The next day brought my brother Lyndon and wife Nancy – who left two days later to view the eclipse with another niece.  Then came daughter Melissa, husband Karl and granddaughter Kathryn, my helper in Japan.  Then grandson Michael and girlfriend Crystin. In other words, while it was a lot of fun, it was a zoo!

By the way, my foot is almost healed! Getting a pedicure this afternoon. Thanks for joining me and sorry for being so slow getting this out!

Beth