Hakone

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" rowspan="2" width=200 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="31b64643.jpg"> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Konichiwa from Japan"><U><B>Konichiwa from Japan</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="November in Nagoya"><U><B>November in Nagoya</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id36.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Thanksgiving in Japan"><U><B>Thanksgiving in Japan</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id37.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="So much to see in Kyoto"><U><B>So much to see in Kyoto</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id51.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Bon nen kai"><U><B>Bon nen kai</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id52.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Iseshima"><U><B>Ise-shima</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id53.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="New Year in Tokyo"><U><B>New Year in Tokyo</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id55.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="January Weekends"><U><B>January Weekends</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id74.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Hiroshima"><U><B>Hiroshima</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id75.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Eriks Birthday Party"><U><B>Erik's Birthday Party</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id77.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Osaka"><U><B>Osaka</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id79.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Susans Birthday"><U><B>Susan's Birthday</B></U></A></div> <div> <B>Hakone</B></div> <div> <A HREF="id80.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Lucinda and Aaron in Japan"><U><B>Lucinda and Aaron in Japan</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id56.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="What well miss about Japan"><U><B>What we'll miss about Japan</B></U></A></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="2f864643.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#6666FF" FACE="Arial" ><B>The Reads in Maryland</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#00FF00" FACE="Arial" >   </FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#333399" FACE="Arial" > </FONT> |     <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Reads in Maryland"><U>home</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Our Interests"><U>Our Interests</U></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Symbol" >   ·   </FONT><A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Photo Albums"><U>Photo Albums</U></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Symbol" >   ·   </FONT><A HREF="id82.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Places Weve Been"><U>Places We've Been</U></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Symbol" >   ·   </FONT><A HREF="id5.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Favorite Links"><U>Favorite Links</U></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Symbol" >   ·   </FONT><A HREF="id38.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Keeping in Touch"><U>Keeping in Touch</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=390 colspan=2 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> Hakone</div> <div> <IMG SRC="337e12c0.jpg" border=0 width="225" height="300" ALIGN="RIGHT" HSPACE="5" VSPACE="5"><IMG SRC="335fabc0.jpg" border=0 width="250" height="188" ALT="Outdoor sculpture that looks like something from Star Trek" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="5" VSPACE="5">Erik and I had a great birthday month. I hope this becomes a tradition. At the end of March, Erik planned for us to go to Hakone. He originally planned to go on the weekend of my birthday but couldn't get a room booked. I'm glad we went the next weekend cause Yama no Hotel was beautiful, situated on Lake Ashinoko. We had a delicious french meal in the hotel restaurant. I had lamb and Erik had fish. We ordered dessert a second time cause we liked the quince tart so much.</div> <bR> <div> Getting to our hotel was quite complicated. We arrive in Odawara by shinkansen, then took a train, to get on a mountain train. This mountain train is special cause it used switch-back tracks and you had to wait for the opposing train before you go in the opposite direction. We took a break from the travelling and stopped at the Hakone Open-Air museum with lots of outdoor sculptures and a large indoor Picasso collection.   Then we took cable cars, stopping at a sulfur mountain and getting sleeted on. Then, we got on a boat to cross Lake Ashinoko to get to our hotel. The weather the first day was rainy and foggy but cleared up the next day. Though, we didn't get a glimpse of Mt. Fuji the entire weekend. Oh well.</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="33dfabc0.jpg" border=0 width="250" height="188" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="5" VSPACE="5">The next day, we walked along the stone boardwalk along Lake Ashinoko from our hotel to the Hakone Jinja, which has a torii in the water and steps leading up the mountain to the shrine. We then talked to town, Motto Hakone, had breakfast of coffee and cheese toast. From there we took the cypress path to Hakone Machi, stopping at the Hakone Checkpoint, which was used during the Edo period to restrict travel on the Tokaido "highway". We also stopped at a sad grasslands garden in Hakone Machi. From there we took a ship across the lake and a bus to the Wetlands Garden, which was better. Our trip to the Yunesan spa and the mountain traffic jam made us miss our train back to Nagoya. It was the first time we sat in unreserved seats for the shinkansen. After getting seats, relieved of having to stand the entire 2 hours, the trip wasn't bad. </div> </td> </tr></table></body>