This morning we woke up early and hit the ofuro (public bath). It seemed quite a bit hotter in
there compared to the rotenburo, but I think a lot of that was because it was all enclosed.
Almost like a steam room of sorts. But, it was a good way to relax again before we headed off
for more sightseeing.After breakfast (which was almost as interesting as dinner), we headed out to check out Hakone.
The first thing we did was take a bus back to the main train station in Hakone. From there we headed to the Hakone Open Air Museum. It was a neat train ride because the train had to switch-back on the tracks several times.
The open air museum was pretty interesting. But, like most museums, some of the art was very cool, some of it was pretty blah. I'm glad we made the effort to go check it out though.
One of the neater things there was this tower. On the outside it didn't look all that special, but when you got inside of it, it was entirely made of colored glass. It was very pretty.
After the museum, we took a cable car to the Hakone ropeway. This ropeway led up to the top of one of the higher hills/mountains in Hakone. It afforded us a great view from the top.
But most importantly, it meant that I was able to see Fuji-san!! Although he was a bit shrouded by clouds, it was definitely visible in the distance. You could see the show on it and everything. It looked so huge! Maybe someday I'll be able to climb it. Maybe next trip. ^_^
And trust me, even if it's hard to see, Fuji-san IS behind me in these pictures:
After taking the ropeway back down to the bottom, we ended up at the shores of Lake Ashi.
So, we took a scenic cruise across the lake to Motohakone. Funniest thing about the cruise is that the first one leaving looked like a pirate ship. Kinda cheesy, but oh well.
As we approached our final destination, Motohakone, you could see the water toorii gate of Hakone Jinja (shrine).
After arriving in Motohakone, we decided to walk up to Hakone Jinja and look around.
As we approached the main part of the shrine, you could hear a bunch of chanting/reciting coming from inside the main temple. But for the life of me, I couldn't figure out what it was for.
After wandering around a bit to look at the temple, we came back to the main temple grounds where we were finally able to find out what the chanting was about. Apparently there was a wedding going on, and the chanting was coming from that. I really wish I could have gotten a couple of pictures, because the woman looked very beautiful in her traditional wedding dress.
Here is what the main temple looked like.
The temple was fairly big. It had a bunch of small side buildings and some really neat looking lion statues as well.
One of the small side buildings had this large golden box. It kind of reminded me of the Ark of the Covenant from Raiders of the Lost Ark. :) It was very delicately detailed.
I also ran across this small dragon fountain. The sign next to it explained the proper way to wash your hands. (You first wash your left hand, then wash your right hand. Finally you drink what's left of the water from your left hand).
And finally, we walked out to the toorii gate in the water.
After looking around the shrine, we decided it was about head on out. So, we took a taxi back to the ryokan to pick up our luggage and start the trek to Kyoto.
At the Odawara station, Ted checked to see if they happened to find his rail pass, but no luck. That sucks, because it's gonna get expensive for him I'm afraid.
After having to transfer shinkansen at Nagoya station, with luggage in tow, we were more than ready to check in at the hotel in Kyoto and relax a little bit. Conveniently for us, the hotel was just across the street from Kyoto Station.
At this point in the trip, it became painfully obvious that I was gong to have to send some of my stuff home. My bags were already ungodly heavy, and I hadn't even made it half way thru the trip. ^_^
