April 2

We woke up to a cold and rainy day, as expected. But we are determined to make the best of it. Unfortunately, the hike we’ve been looking forward to doing won’t be possible this morning in the pouring rain due to mud and unsafe conditions. Additionally, the whole reason for doing the hike is to see Mt Fuji and the whole area is socked in with fog. You can’t see anything. But we will make the best of it as this is part of traveling, and part of life, adjust and enjoy with what you have. We haven’t given up hope that maybe we can do this later in the day. 

We started the day with the incredible breakfast provided to us at our Japanese AirBnB. The food was so unusual, many different items, probably 10-12, and just a few bites of each. But the array of flavors and foods is incredible. Just wonderful. 

After breakfast, we walked in the pouring rain to the Sounzan station, umbrellas overhead. We got on the Hakone Ropeway, cars which remind me of a gondola, and headed for our first stop of the day, Owakudani. This area is famous for the sulphur clouds from the venting in the ground and the activity of the volcano. They sell black everything here, due to the sulphur, but the black eggs are most famous - Kuro-tamago. We bought a few to eat later, hoping we will have a chance to eat them while we do our hike, if it dries out. 

After wandering around some, including a stop in the Geo Museum there, we got back on the Ropeway and rode to Lake Ashinoko. We boarded the pirate ship here, with thousands of other people. There were so many people that we were packed on to the ship like sardines, with barely room to stand. I am so amazed at all the people taking pictures of the scenery. Huh? You can’t see anything. The fog is pea soup thick. But glad everyone is enjoying. We disembarked at Moto-Hakone. The town here is charming and we stopped for lunch. Amazing food, everywhere we go the food is wonderful. We enjoyed Sobe and Udon noodles with different kinds of meat, and of course tea. The hot tea tasted so good as it is so ridiculously cold outside, in the 40’s with rain and wind. Oye. But I’m loving the food so much. 

After lunch, we started walking around the lake to do a short hike to the Hakone Shrine. Along the way, we followed the Ancient Cedar Trail. The trees were incredible and the walk was beautiful, even though it was very muddy and wet. Along the way, to our surprise and joy, it started clearing up! Within about 30 minutes, the sun came out and we could actually see what was around us. The lake is beautiful and we can see the Peace Gate clearly. The hike to the shrine was beautiful with all the green trees glistening in the sun. 

After our hike, we got back on the Pirate Ship and sailed back to the Hakone Ropeway where we boarded and rode back to Owakudani. With things clearing, we were hopeful to see Mt. Fuji. We never did see it clearly but bits and pieces of the majestic mountain would peek out from time to time. We were hoping to do a hike here but discovered you had to make reservations in advance and we were unable to do the hike. We also realized we would have to abandon the hike we had originally planned, Mt Kintoki; it is quite late in the day and our friend, AI, is telling us it is unsafe to do after heavy rainfall. Sadly, we relinquished the plan to hike and enjoyed walking around Owakudani, hoping the mountain would become more visible. While we were waiting, we enjoyed a black ice cream cone, not sure what that was all about, except everything is black there. It just tasted like vanilla ice cream, but we waited so long to buy it, maybe that is where the value was. We also ate our black eggs. They didn’t really taste any different than a boiled egg anywhere, IMHO. But still an experience. 

We got back on the Ropeway and headed to Sounzan. Our plan was to take the cable car to Gora and wander around the area for a short while. The lines for the cable care were so long that we decided to walk. Google Maps told us it was a 30 minute walk. But it was all downhill! And I mean really steep. My knees, hips and brain were all rebelling. I strove to keep a good attitude about it all but wasn’t doing very well. We finally arrived in Gora and discovered the Open Air Museum was closed. We did a little shopping and then hopped on the cable car to return to Sounzan. 

We walked back to our Air BnB as the weather is nice now and the evening is gorgeous. We were treated to a beautiful sunset. 

Dinner was wonderful. So good. After dinner, I sat in the Onsen for a while. I’m really enjoying this hot spring. The women and men are separate and you go in naked. But I’ve adjusted and I never saw anybody except once the few times I went in. It made my body feel so good. 

Matt and I are so tired after I returned from the Onsen that we crawled into bed. Asleep quickly with no melatonin or Ativan tonight. The night was slightly challenging with trying not to be cold and not too warm. The blanket provided was so warm. As Matt called it, the “big, beautiful blanket”. But the other blanket wasn’t warm enough. But it was ok. I’m near the guy that makes my heart warm. Oh, I love this man. His warmth and love soothes my heart and soul and we have so much fun together. Tomorrow will be another day.