Hakone Vacation

One of the Christmas gifts that Alex gave me was a trip to Hakone! It's a town in the mountains that's set on a series of hot springs. They're famous for their onsens, or hotsprings. It was an amazing trip and a perfect present!

We got there on Wednesday and went straight to our onsen appointment. It was so relaxing! It was an open air onsen and it was pretty dang cold outside, so the hot springs were perfect!

This was the river right in front of our hotel. 

We went on a walk our first day after the onsen and found this shrine.

Typical fire truck in Japan! SO tiny!

Happened to catch him looking like such a traveler haha

We took a cable car up the mountain from Hakone and then took a tram the rest of the way.

We went to the Hakone Open Air Museum...it was a ton of fun and it was a beautiful day to be outside!

We found some koi in a pond to feed.

Like the Chicago bean...in Japan! (and round...)

This one was called "Hey!" which I found pretty amusing.

There was this AWESOME rope playplace for kids only (darn!)

They made me take off my shoes, but apparently you're allowed to climb on this art... I thought it was going to be bouncy or something. It was just an egg sculpture.

There was this beautiful tower you climbed spiral staircase up to the top to a beautiful view! The walls on the way up were entirely stained glass...it was really pretty.

We had lunch at this delicious place called Woody's. Very odd food, but yummy! 

On the tram!

On our way up, this Japanese woman who spoke English was explaining the surrounding area to us and pointed out this symbol (meaning "Big" or "Large) carved in the mountain behind us.

BEAUTIFUL views of Fuji-san!

At one of the stops, there's an abundance of sulfuric hot springs. 

You take a pretty easy hike up the side of this mountain here and at the end, they hardboil eggs in the springs, turning their shells black. It's said that for every egg you eat, you gain 7 years onto your life. Kuro Tamago! (Black Eggs!)

 I thought the water was frozen; it took me a minute to realize it was just cloudy!

Beautiful!

After purchasing our eggs!

and yes! I did eat mine! Hated every second of it, but I did it!

Hello Kitty! & Fuji San in the background!

We got back on the tram and it took us back down the other side of the mountain, to Lake Ashi. We took a touristy pirate boat ride across the lake to the other side. 

This is the Hakone Shrine; this Tori Gate is one of the most famous in Japan; most of those beautiful pictures you see of a Tori Gate on a lake with it's reflections are this one. Mine obviously are not as good.

We got to see sunset once we crossed the lake. We had dinner at this amazing restaurant called Bakery and Table that sat right on the water. It was lovely!

We took a bus back to our hotel and went to the onsen at our hotel. It's pretty traditional in Japanese hotels to wear yukata (like casual, cotton kimonos) around everywhere in the hotel: to breakfast, to dinner, to the onsen, wandering the halls, etc. We hadn't done it yet, but we thought we would give it a go since it was our last night. They're super comfy!  

More to come soon... We had an 80's themed Christmas party and we'll be flying to Houston at the end of this month. Next month: Nagano!