We began the day by doing some last minute site seeing in Shibuya and surrounding areas. We went to Yiyogi park, which is like the central park of Tokyo. It was pretty cool. Following which, we went back to our airbnb to say farewell to our host and backed our bags.
In order to get to Hakone, we needed to take the Romance Car from Shinjuku to Hakone. The Shinjuku train station is one of the busiest transit stations in the world. I am not going to lie, I felt proud of myself for being able to navigate that best of a station.
When we got to Shinkjuku we made our way to the Odakyu line platform. From there, we purchased our tickets for the Romance Car. The reason why it is called the Romance Car is because it has two seats per each side of the train. Each seat has large panoramic windows so you get to see the view as you speed out of Tokyo and into the mountains.
Again, we couldn't see Mount Fuji because it was raining while we were departing. One important note about trains in Japan- they're quiet. Super Quiet. Just like a library, everyone is quiet and respectful of those on the train. I really enjoyed that part of Japan.
The Romance Car was a very smooth ride into Hakone. We stayed at a traditional Japanese Inn (called Ryokans in Japanese) and our Ryokan was up in the Gora part of Hakone. After the Romance Car arrived in Hakone, we had to take one more train to go up the mountain.
This train followed what's called the Hydrangea Trail because hydrangeas grew naturally along this beautiful slope up the mountainside. While parts of the trip did make me nervous because we were along the edge of the mountain, the views were incredible.
Once we arrived in Gora, we had to walk for a bit to our Ryokan. It was so quiet in this neighborhood. All we could hear was the sound of rain, and animals. The walk was not too bad - only about 10 minutes. However, it did include climbing steep slope.
Arriving at our Ryokan was such a relief. Walking around in a small city in a foreign land is a bet nerve wrecking, but boy was it worth it. We took our shoes off, placed them in the locker, and headed inside. The attendant showed us to our room, and gave us our Yakata's to change in to. Yakata's are traditional robes you wear in Ryokans. In some resort towns, you can even wear your yakata into the town. We only wore ours in the Ryokan.
Our room was a traditional Japanese room, with tatami floors, kneeling table, and my favorite part - an outdoor bath. The reason why we picked Hakone is because it's up in the mountains, and on the base of an active volcano. So this ryokan had natural water from the volcano. Our tub was filled to the rim with this very relaxing - and very hot - water. When you get in the tub, the water overflows out and into floor. However, the tub automatically refills itself with the nourishing spring water.
The ryokan also had an onsen inside, as most in Japan do. An onsen is a just a hot spring. This one was indoors, but had a window to let nature in. This water is also natural spring water from the volcano. Even though it was really hot outside, it helped our bodies recover just sitting in the onsen.
Following some time in the Onsen, we went back to our rooms and realized we had missed one thing in our plan - we didn't think of dinner! the Ryokan was pretty isolated, it would be another 10 - 15 minute walk into town. Most of the food vendors had already closed (it was 6:30pm) and we didn't prepay for a meal at the Ryokan (if you didn't prepay, you could not enjoy a meal.
Thankfully, the lobby sold some ramen and chips. We bought some ramen, some chips, and some water from the vending machine and our dinner was set. Our room game with a water warmer, we heated it up and had some really delicious ramen.
After dinner, the table was put away and we brought out our futons and comforters and watched tv till it was bed time.
We crashed out pretty hard, and enjoyed the relaxing moment. We needed the rest because the next day, we trekked up the mountain.
Snapchat from the day (including the night before last):
In order to get to Hakone, we needed to take the Romance Car from Shinjuku to Hakone. The Shinjuku train station is one of the busiest transit stations in the world. I am not going to lie, I felt proud of myself for being able to navigate that best of a station.
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| This was an example of our Romance Car, this was the train before ours. |
Again, we couldn't see Mount Fuji because it was raining while we were departing. One important note about trains in Japan- they're quiet. Super Quiet. Just like a library, everyone is quiet and respectful of those on the train. I really enjoyed that part of Japan.
The Romance Car was a very smooth ride into Hakone. We stayed at a traditional Japanese Inn (called Ryokans in Japanese) and our Ryokan was up in the Gora part of Hakone. After the Romance Car arrived in Hakone, we had to take one more train to go up the mountain.
This train followed what's called the Hydrangea Trail because hydrangeas grew naturally along this beautiful slope up the mountainside. While parts of the trip did make me nervous because we were along the edge of the mountain, the views were incredible.
Once we arrived in Gora, we had to walk for a bit to our Ryokan. It was so quiet in this neighborhood. All we could hear was the sound of rain, and animals. The walk was not too bad - only about 10 minutes. However, it did include climbing steep slope.
Arriving at our Ryokan was such a relief. Walking around in a small city in a foreign land is a bet nerve wrecking, but boy was it worth it. We took our shoes off, placed them in the locker, and headed inside. The attendant showed us to our room, and gave us our Yakata's to change in to. Yakata's are traditional robes you wear in Ryokans. In some resort towns, you can even wear your yakata into the town. We only wore ours in the Ryokan.
 |
| Me in a Yakata |
Our room was a traditional Japanese room, with tatami floors, kneeling table, and my favorite part - an outdoor bath. The reason why we picked Hakone is because it's up in the mountains, and on the base of an active volcano. So this ryokan had natural water from the volcano. Our tub was filled to the rim with this very relaxing - and very hot - water. When you get in the tub, the water overflows out and into floor. However, the tub automatically refills itself with the nourishing spring water.
 |
| Our Japanese room, when we're ready for bed, we just move the table. |
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| Our outdoor bath |
The ryokan also had an onsen inside, as most in Japan do. An onsen is a just a hot spring. This one was indoors, but had a window to let nature in. This water is also natural spring water from the volcano. Even though it was really hot outside, it helped our bodies recover just sitting in the onsen.
Following some time in the Onsen, we went back to our rooms and realized we had missed one thing in our plan - we didn't think of dinner! the Ryokan was pretty isolated, it would be another 10 - 15 minute walk into town. Most of the food vendors had already closed (it was 6:30pm) and we didn't prepay for a meal at the Ryokan (if you didn't prepay, you could not enjoy a meal.
Thankfully, the lobby sold some ramen and chips. We bought some ramen, some chips, and some water from the vending machine and our dinner was set. Our room game with a water warmer, we heated it up and had some really delicious ramen.
After dinner, the table was put away and we brought out our futons and comforters and watched tv till it was bed time.
We crashed out pretty hard, and enjoyed the relaxing moment. We needed the rest because the next day, we trekked up the mountain.
Snapchat from the day (including the night before last):
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