Day Two in Hakone

After the museum day 2 in Hakone continues, and we are on a mission to have a beautiful Mt. Fuji sighting!

According to area guide books, the best way to view Mt. Fuji is from the "Hakone Loop", which is a giant route around Lake Ashi with 4 modes of public transportation including: train, ropeway, boat, and bus.

We took the train from our hotel to the museum, so now onto the famed "Hakone Ropeway".  Similar to the ropeway up to Mt. Misen on Miyajima Island, we had to get off in the middle and board a second ropeway. 

Ready to board the first ropeway!

Climbing up to the halfway point... it's getting a little cloudy and foggy.

This is the spot that is rated #1 for spectacular views of Mt. Fuji! 

Advertisement for your reference, if the clouds were not in the way...

Switching to the second ropeway... again you cannot see a darn thing!!

We have arrived at mode of transport #3: the boat ride!

Crowds of people are running to get on these old Spanish pirate ships!  Thank goodness the boat cruise isn't cancelled due to inclement weather today.

#2 rated spectacular view of Mt. Fuji... this weather makes me so sad.

Here's what I should have been seeing!

At least I could enjoy a fun boat ride. 

(If the boat tour had been cancelled, we would have had to backtrack the "loop" via ropeway(s) and trains again!)

Transport #4: our empty bus ride back to the train station. 

This is the least crowded we've seen anything all weekend!  Yesterday there was not even extra standing room.

We arrived at Odawara shinkansen station much earlier than planned.  We had reserved a train several hours later because we had expected to spend lots of time photographing the majestic Fuji-san!!

So we decided to explore the town of Odawara.  First stop = Odawara Castle.

This castle is also a replica (like Nagoya) and has a museum inside.

But it still looks darn impressive from the outside!

I must admit the golden dolphins of Nagoya Castle are way bigger and way cooler than this guy.

View of the castle grounds and Pacific Ocean.

View of Odawara city from the lookout on top of the castle.

On our walk back to the train station, I saw a poster for these cool-looking car-shaped treats you put in children's lunchboxes.  I'd like to think they are made of yummy colored fudge, but the more likely ingredient is mashed up beans and vegetables.

Let's do a little food shopping in the station, too. 

Mom couldn't quite imagine my birthday cake at work where everyone got a different piece of cake, so here's a typical bakery counter.  The pieces are all sold individually. 

Holy GREEN bananas!!  Will these things ever turn yellow?!

Apparently there are two sizes of grapes in Japan:

golf ball-sized or pea-sized... but they still taste pretty good!

Tarynn and a vine of edaname!  We had no idea these things grew in a clump on a vine, they are always separated and individual by the time it makes them to the consumer!  (~$6.38)

Good thing KG loves green onions--this one is giant!  (~$2.84)

So the weather was a major disappointment and shy Mt. Fuji never made an appearance, but Tarynn and I still managed to have a good time in Hakone, and we also learned an important lesson...

visit in winter next time!! 

The lake is calm, the weather is clear, and Fuji-san is almost always in perfect view!

The beauty of Miyajima Island continues

Our day on Miyajima Island continues. 

Here is a small stream going through town, and people are wading in it again.  Remember how I said Japan needs pools... take a hint!!

It was a nice relaxing scene throughout town, though. 

And since it was well into the 90's, I stopped a few times to cool my feet off, too!

Even the deer liked to lay in the shade by the stream.

Another video of a deer.  This one has a slight injury.  Maybe a rowdy tourist hurt it?!  Yeah, right, that kind of stuff doesn't happen in Japan! 

Souvenir shopping on the streets of Miyajima. 

I love that this town was not crowded like the rest of the country!!

Quite possibly the crappiest souvenir shop ever... 

How do you go from the initials K.F. to K.H.?!  They lost out on a sale from this K.G.!!

Next sight on the island is taking a ropeway ride to the top of Mt. Misen.

Tarynn climbs into our private car that takes us halfway up the mountain.

And we're off!!

This is the ONLY way to climb a mountain in my opinion.  I love it!

(If the car had been air conditioned, it would have been a bonus, but it's still much better than climbing uphill for 2-3 hours!!)

View from the ropeway.

Long way up!

We made it to the halfway point, and now there is a circulating ropeway with one gondola on each side to reach the summit.

This time we'll have to share the cabin car with up to 28 other people!

Made it to the peak of the mountain, and here is the sign we are greeted with:

As if wild deer aren't bad enough, they also have wild monkeys on the top of this mountain that like to steal your personal belongings or attack you for looking at them directly.

Thank goodness we didn't run into any wild monkeys.  I don't even like them behind cages in zoos.  Yuck!

View from the peak of Mt. Misen.

KG is Queen of the World (or at least Japan)!

Tarynn loved this place.  She said it was the most beautiful place she has seen in all of Japan.  So I guess she agrees with the "Top 3 Scenic spots of Japan" rating.  I thought it was nice, but I have truly seen many beautiful places here.

Going d-o-w-n on the ropeway... it was like a steep roller coaster!!

Just to prove we were in Miyajima!

Anyone hungry?  Here's the world's largest rice spoon!

More deer along the bank of the stream. 

Here is Tarynn with a cute fawn. 

Yes, the fawns are cute.  But for the most part, I was totally over the wild deer after about 15 minutes.  They roam around and beg for food like a pack of stray dogs.  One literally tried to climb into my lap while I was eating a snow cone.  I lifted my arm up with the hand holding the food, and she thought it was a signal for her to go higher, too...  Ugh, and then another deer was sniffing around Tarynn's bag getting deer snot all over it.  Not exactly charming and serene as they seem from a distance!!