Andre and Wendy: Hakone

Woke up this morning after finally having a good nights sleep. Breakfast of things we had picked up yesterday at 7/11 and then off to see the Torii gates that are along the side of the lake. We thought we would be the only ones there, shocked when there was already a line up at 9AM for pictures. There was a couple in front of us from Ecuador, a class of young school children, then a couple of Asian families. There is a sign maximum of 3 minutes for pictures, why does anyone need 3 minutes? Well, the Asians did take more than the allocated time, how many poses can you do? Andre had some fun with the young children. Thankfully they were just taking class photos and not one at a time. The couple from Ecuador are living in Tokyo now and they said last time they were here the line was even closed at top, there were too many people waiting, guess I shouldn't complain. After the picture taking that took us maximum of 1 minute we then walked up the stair to visit the shrine. Very pretty in the woods, we haven't seen much woods yet. Only a few people here at the shrine compared to Tokyo.

Next up is the boat ride that we passed on yesterday because of the crowds. We were on the first boat ride this morning leaving from our spot at 10:15. Shocked how many people were getting on at this time of morning. We just stayed on the boat until it came back around the lake and got off at the little village where we did our laundry last night. Found the old road that you can walk, mostly just stones and slippery so didn't do too much of that.

Next off we found the pathway that went by Checkpoint which we need to read more about, then walked the pathway back to our town. Beautiful walk through the park. Back to our apartment and surprised to see the our friend Heather has arrived and found her way. We were expecting her at some point today but were shocked she made her way from landing in Tokyo this morning at 7:30AM that she was here already. Lots of catching up as she has spent the last month month travelling through Laos. She is definitely not prepared for the weather here, snowing here today, brrr.

Visited back at the apartment for a bit then decided to get moving again, a little snow and rain won't stop us. Started off by walking back to Hakonemachi-Ko, the town right beside us to see Hakone Sekisho Exhibition Hall and Hakone Checkpoint. There is an entrance fee to this small museum that represents the time when this area was one of the checkpoints that you needed to pass through when travelling. It was the security post during the Edo period of 1603-1868. A nice restored area that one of the workers took a liking to us and explained a lot of the replica to us.

When looking at Andres pictures tonight I also remembered that we had seen a small cemetery when we were on the old road. I have seen what looked like red scarfs wrapped around some of the statues and red that these are Jizo, a Buddhist deity known as the guardian of children how died before their parents, red to ward off evil spirits, danger and illness. Quite moving when you see the bold red.

Walked back through the beautiful park and then decided to go and see the Torii Gate, thought Heather may not have much of a wait for a picture. We were wrong, a much longer wait than even this morning, she just grabbed a quick picture of the gate between people taking turns and we moved on.

Stopped at Lawtons to pick up some things for supper, like 7/11 they have lots of premade things to choose from. Another meal done.

Back at the apartment, time to pack up again as we move on to a lake Kawaguchiko Lake tomorrow, more snow in the forecast, really hoping to get some views of Mt Fuji, one of the reasons we are staying in this area.

Ship we would tour the lake on later

Walk to Hakone Torii Gate

Hakone Torii Gate

Walk to Hakone Shrine

Washing station before entering shrine area

washing station

Around Hakone Shrine

Steps to Hakone Shrine

Hakone Shrine

This sign is an example of why we are not driving ourselves in Japan, plus they drive on the opposite side of the road than us

Boarding our cruise ship

View of the town we are staying in

First class part of the ship that we were NOT sitting in

Reminded us of the Algonquin in St Andrews NB

Not open again, off season I guess

Along the walk on the old road. Google tells that what looked like red scarfs wrapped around some of the statues are Jizo, a Buddhist deity known as the guardian of children how died before their parents, red to ward off evil spirits, danger and illness.