climbergirl blog

On the Furnicular Train

The Conductor on the Furnicular. There are two trains using one track and halfway up/down the hill, there is a bypass. It looks like both trains are going to collide and at the last minute, they don’t!

On May 11th, we took a bus, a furnicular railway, and a cable car to Owakudani (where we were hoping to get a glance of Fuji). It was raining all day, but we went up there anyways on the off-chance weather might change. It didn’t-so we were treated to howling winds and horizontal rainshowers. The cable car ride was quite exciting, especially for those members of the tour who were fearfull of heights. (more…)

<

Our Ryokan, The Fuji-Hakone, has an outdoor family style onsen one can reserve, as well as an indoor single onsen! Our room, #8, has 10 tatami mats-quite spacious. The room to beg for is #7 as it sports a breakfast alcove and a sink with a mirror! (more…)

Next we go to Nikko (elev. 557 meters). It is beautiful, hilly area with lots of water. Our ryokan (the Turtle Inn) sports a family Onsen (Japanese spa) so I’m really excited! We are going to hike to the shrine dedicated to the first shogun of the edo era. Neat stuff Maynard!

By the time we got into Nikko on the 8th, it was time for dinner, so after dumping our bags into the “October” room, we checked back in with the group.

We went out to a local establishment for a FANTASTIC meal of Yakkitori. We all sat closeby, and it was quite an intimate setting. We had a small room to ourselves, and we did get a little roughty at times. The sake was flowing and we were a glowing.

(more…)

Wow, we made our last connecting flight out of Seoul.  Relief and joy when we finally touched down in Japan.   It was wonderful to finally be there.  We made it to the Sakura Ryokan with ease. (more…)

caused us to miss our flight in San Fran.  So we waited 8 hours in the airport until the next flight to Japan (1AM on Saturday morning).   The upside is that we got a chance to eat some Quesadillas at a little Mexican joint in the airport…to celebrate Cinco De Mayo just before it was over!

(more…)