Hakone

Yesterday we decided that a change of pace was in order and got on the train for the mountain town of Hakone. It's really a whole tourist area surrounding Lake Ashi, a crater lake with great views of Fuji.

Lake Ashi with Mt. Fuji in the background (yes, it's really there, behind the cloud)

At the point this picture was taken we had already experienced quite a day: two hours on trains from the city, a perilous bus ride up the mountains from the main tourist town of Hakone-Yumoto and a sudden need to cover up as we were greeted by the clouds and steady 25mph winds. But just as we were fumbling around looking for the path to the Hakone shrine we were interrupted by....

ANGRY WASP ATTACK!!!!!

It hit Rachel just as we approached the lake - we think he was blown into her shirt by the wind and was scared. Though she struggled through the pain of the unfamiliar venom, it eventually forced us to head back to Tokyo earlier than we had originally planned. We did, however, make it to the shrine.

Road up to the shrine - I missed capturing this torii, but don't worry, there are several throughout the area.

This is just at the bottom of the stairway up to the shrine. I think the rope symbolizes that there is a spirit in the tree. 

Another one at the top by the shrine itself. 

The top of the tree. 

More awesome trees, with the shrine in the bottom part of the photo. 

Torii at the top of the stairway to the shrine. 

Looking down to the lake. 

Torii in the lake (the people in the bottom of the frame would, as we approached the gate, take an excruciatingly long time taking "artistic" photos of themselves with the gate. They made everyone else wait. It was annoying.)

This is a view of another torii in town as the mist was moving past. 

After this we got back on the bus to the train, to the train, etc. We got off in Tokyo at Shinjuku (one of many shopping areas and the end of the train line we needed to take to get to Hakone). Instead of making our way home and trying to cook, we decided to eat there. After trudging around in the unwelcome heat which had remained in Tokyo, we ducked into a long, thin restaurant where one buys food tickets from a vending machine and gives these to the kitchen staff. It was fast and tasty (I had somen noodle soup with age tofu and rachel got beef curry with rice). 

So much for our epic trip to Hakone. Today is record stores, karaoke practice and any other things we can do to amuse ourselves.