Woke up and packed to get ready for my train travel day to Hakone.
Went down to the breakfast buffet -- got a seat near the window with a nice early morning view.
Had a quick "regular" breakfast--
Omlette with cheese & ham; side dip of blueberry jam
Fruit Graonla with Milk
oranges, kiwis and pineapple
rye toast, whole grain and nut toasts and apple pastry
Also had a bowl of miso but forgot to take picture of it ... along with 2 glasses of OJ.
Finished up and headed back up to the room to enter this and be on my way. Much traveling to do today -- subway to another JR station,
a shinkansen to another city, then transfer to a local / rapid line to Hakone-Yamoto station; taxi ride to property--- whew!
Being an (overly) cautious traveler I arrived at the Shin-Osaka Shinkansen Station about an hour and a half before my train was due to depart.
I found a waiting area that was initially full but as people got up to leave I grabbed a seat and stayed in it until about 10 minutes before my train was due to
depart. This kept me inside and warm, rather than outside on the platform or in a small waiting room for a long wait.
I took a few people shots while waiting to try and capture some characters I saw.
Some school boys - the second one is throwing me a peace sign :-)
The second from the end is wearing a "Hogwarts" sweatshirt - must be a classmate of Harry Potter in Japan!
Cool "elderly" gentleman
Scowling "elderly" lady
My train arrived a minute or two before it was due to leave at 10:53am (trains are VERY precise on their timing in Japan)
Here are a few pictures and videos taken on the train. While a little boring, it also gives you an idea of the scenery once one leaves town.
The trip was about 3 hours on the train and I feel asleep several times -- very comfortable chairs than recline and the train is very quiet.
Made it to the Otawata Station stop and transferred to the local train going to Hakone-Yamoto station. It was about a 20 minute SLOW train ride.
Once I got off I was a bit hungry - it was about 2:45pm and other than snacking on a few cookies I'd bought the night before for the train ride I had not eaten.
The train station had a nice bread & pastry shop so I bought a nice black bean bau and an almond croissant to tide me over until dinner time.
After finishing these off I exited the station and tried to figure out wether I should take a local bus or a taxi to the ryokan/onsen I was staying at.
Their email confirmation listed both, but in the end I decided I would just walk -- google maps said it was only about 10 minutes and I had rested enough on the train.
I'm glad I did as it was a very pretty walk past local shops and a lot of nice water features leading up to where the Ryokan/Onsen was situated. Here are some pics and videos:
walking through town
bridge
water flowing into river
Just below the dam
A dam
Walking up the roadway
a waterfall on the side of the road on the way to my Ryokan
Video of waterfall
Front entrance to my Ryokan
On entering the building they took my shoes away :-)
On checking in I took these videos
part of the checkin process headed towards my room
panning around the room
view out my window
still of view out my window
Some additional stills of my room:
Main part of my room
side "sitting room"we
View out of my window
At the request of a sister - me in a Yukata
Once situated in my room they provided me with some traditional green tea and a mochi treat
welcoming green tea
mochi treat
mochi treat unwrapped
After a relaxing tea and mochi treat I headed to the onsen to soak. They had three onsens - two that switch between male and female every 12 hours or so and one that is private (first come first serve).
I just used the one designated for male use in the afternoon and will go back and try the other one tonight when it switches to male use.
As I ended up being the only person there I snuck back in with my iPhone and took a few photos of the rooms (not supposed to, but with no other guest present -- oh well!)
storage for yukata, towel, etc (oops I put my shoes up there!)
cleaning area pre-soak
the soaking tub (big enough for a few people)
Went back to my very nice room and uploaded all of this. Now going to relax for about 30 minutes until they bring me my meal (served in my room).
cod roe, broccoli & tomato, stuffed squid, jellied item with fish, salmon pate, daikon with caviar
sugar peas, boiled root
sashimi: shrimp, octopus, tuna, amberjack, one other- can't remember!
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After dinner I took a soak in the other onsen that was now open for men (one other person was leaving as I entered but again I was on my own so able to sneak some photos)
Headed back to my room which had been converted to "bed mode" and went to sleep!