Wednesday, May 23--The Long and Winding Road

Time to get out of the bustle of the city for a bit and head toward the countryside. According to Google, Hakone looked really good and we also wanted to visit Kamakura, site of the giant Buddha statue Daibutsu and lots of temples. It helped with the decision that Odakyu Railway offers a 3-day Hakone Kamakura pass, which lets you use all modes of transportation to and within the areas. Worry free transport, that's how we like it!

Final destination today is Gora, way up in the mountains. We got on the subway to Shinjuku, then onto the train to Odawara, then onto the train to Hakone-Yumoto, then onto the train to Gora. This last part was very interesting, because the terrain is so sloped, the tracks zig-zag quite a bit. I haven't figured out the system yet, but on certain stops, the driver moves to the other end of the train and the train goes backwards. This switchback happens three times until Gora is reached.

Gora Station

On the train

Little shrine on the side of the tracks

Our hotel was right next to the train station, always a plus, especially since it started raining. It was just a light rain, so we decided to go to Gora Park and the Hakone Open Air Museum today. The hotel was just as interesting as the train ride--reception in the basement and all signs in Japanese only. That was surprising, considering the guests were pretty international, but mostly Chinese.

We had booked half board, because this hotel offers a Japanese breakfast and dinner buffet--food heaven! And you know by now that that's a priority. The Hakone area is known for its hot springs and this hotel also features an onsen. The place was old-school, meaning no modern key cards and anything of that sort, but the rooms were large, the beds comfy, the staff friendly and the location perfect. We were told to be back at 6 for the buffet and you best believe we'd make that on time!

It was lunch time now so we went wandering around town, meaning climbing a steep hill. We passed a string of small restaurants, one of them having large windows through which we saw some simple tables, a very old lady getting the tables ready, 2 platforms with pillows for Japanese-style sitting (kneeling) and on one of those pillows, a big, fluffy cat crashed out. Grannies and nekkos--you can't go wrong! That was the place we chose for lunch after exploring; we had no idea what they were serving, but granny and a nekko--it's all good!

We made our way to Gora Park, which was beautiful and featured some art studios.

Back to the restaurant! We decided to sit Japanese-style to make the experience real. Nobody spoke English and the cat had booked, but grandma told us they serve ramen. Lynda went through the hand-written menu with her and communication was spotty, just like our WiFi box in that area, but when she said miso ramen, I was sold. Believe it or not, I've never had ramen in all the times I've visited Japan! It was simple, but delicious. In fact, the place was so simple, that they didn't serve any drinks besides water and no napkins. That is very unusual--you usually get tea and a wet towelette everywhere. We noticed that the gaijin all sat at the Japanese-style tables, the Japanese lunchers all preferred the more comfortable tables.

The Hakone Open Air Museum is just one train stop away from Gora. The hotel had given us umbrellas and we were ready to see some open air art! This was such a cool place and is highly recommended to anyone who's visiting the area, and I'm not such an artsy person. They even had a building full of Picasso's art.

Bit of a foggy day

Some of the artwork

There were fish too.

We stopped at the cafe which had interesting Italian food, including gelato on a sweet bun. I think Lynda got that one just to make fun of it. But what a genius idea for the U.S! Surprised nobody is selling that yet--a real ice cream sandwich. And don't go starting a business--we saw it first! I grabbed a small bottle of San Pellegrino, not realizing that it cost about $4.50; oh well, we were paying for the scenery, which was worth every yen.

The sandwich of scorn