Kaoru was up early as usual and went for a bath. \u00a0I dozed for a while and made my way to the main house about 730 for breakfast. \u00a0After an “ohaio gozaiemasu” and green tea we went in for a typical Japanese breakfast. \u00a0Sausages, sweet omlette sytle eggs, tomato, rice, some leftovers from last night, pickled vegetables…and an Orange Juice for me.<\/p>\n
After eating we went back to our room to tidy up and pack. \u00a0Kaoru’s Dad then took me outside to show me his wood splitter. \u00a0We took some photos and got in the car for the train station. \u00a0It was a beautiful drive through the hills and the air was warming up as we got lower in altitude. \u00a0We got to the train station with aout 3 minutes to spare so no time for a proper farewell. \u00a0We were getting on at the start of the line so the train was waiting for us, and there were plenty of seats.<\/p>\n
45 minutes later we arrived in Utsunomiya, where we changed trains for Nikko. \u00a0We had about a 10 minute wait before it departed, so our timing was perfect. \u00a0We arrived at Nikko about 1230. \u00a0Going through the ticket machine, I found my Suica card was 90 yen (less than $1) short (for a $20 trip). \u00a0So I had to wait in the fare adjustment line before getting out of the station.<\/p>\n
Kaoru had planned on us buying a 2 day bus pass so we went to that line. \u00a0We noticed the train home tonight was full. \u00a0We weren’t leaving until tomorrow, but in case that train was full as well, we decided to get our tickets while we were here. \u00a0We came across a slight problem – they don’t accept credit card. \u00a0And I had planned to use plastic as I was out of money and the banks were closed. \u00a0Luckily Kaoru had enough cash on her, but it was a good lesson to learn. \u00a0Buying the tickets now was a good call in the end, as we were to find out the train will be full tomorrow! \u00a0So with everything sorted, we were ready to go sight seeing!<\/p>\n
Nikko was very busy, and the cars (and buses) weren’t moving. \u00a0We decided to walk instead, which took us about 30 minutes. \u00a0We looked at cars along the way, and at the point we would have gotten off the bus, we were already a good 15 minutes ahead of it.<\/p>\n
We crossed the road and started up the steps to the temples and shrines. \u00a0There was a lot of maintenance being performed so some of the structures were covered. \u00a0But we were able to pay our entrance fee and see the 3 wise monkeys and other carvings in structures. \u00a0We paid our entrance fee and climbed the steps to enter the main temple. \u00a0We then saw a line, and being Japanese, we had to join it. \u00a0It was to go up 200 steps to another area, which we thought “why not”? \u00a0We weren’t expecting to be taking the steps 1 by 1 for the next hour! \u00a0This was ridiculous. \u00a0It was made even worse by the fact that the top didn’t really have anything worth seeing. \u00a0We started the long walk back down the steps.<\/p>\n
At the bottom there was another line to join. \u00a0We had to take our shoes off so this must be a temple. \u00a0The line was stationary for a long time, but eventually moved quite well. \u00a0Then it slowed and stopped again. \u00a0We concluded that it must be a group praying room, and luckily we were in the next group because I don’t know how much more standing around I could put up with!<\/p>\n
A bit more walking and we found a short line. \u00a0This was for the Nakiryu – the crying of the dragon. \u00a0We were taken in to a room where it was explained the acoustics were such that a sound in the right place will echo, making the sound of the dragon crying. \u00a0This was demonstrated a few times to us. \u00a0We then moved on.<\/p>\n
It was starting to get late, but there was one more place Kaoru wanted us to go to. \u00a0Futarasan Shrine is a place for couples to go to, to help fate tie their relationship together. \u00a0Unfortunatelly it was starting to get late, and it was closing, so we put it on the “tomorrow” list, and made our way to the bus stop.<\/p>\n
About 30 minutes on the bus took us to the end of the line. \u00a0Our hotel was another 3 stops away, but the next bus going that way was about 50 minutes away, so we opted for walking it. \u00a0What we hadn’t planned on was for the (what felt like) sub zero temperature! \u00a0We had to walk next to the lake, which didn’t help things. \u00a0It took us about 25 minutes and we were relieved to arrive in a warm room to defrost. \u00a0We were told it was 3 degrees outside, but I’d argue it was colder.<\/p>\n
Up in our room, I decided to enjoy the Japanese lifestyle and have a bath before dinner. \u00a0It had notjing on my one the previous day – I couldn’t even stretch out! \u00a0But it was nice to be warm again, and the beer went down very well. \u00a0I was starting to think of getting out when the room began to shake. \u00a0“Great”, I thought. \u00a0The place is going to collapse in an earthquake and I’m going to be stark naked in the freezing cold! \u00a0Once it stopped (about 30 seconds) I got out and asked Kaoru about it. \u00a0She was watching the TV and finding out about it. \u00a0It was a level 2 where we were, but a level 4 back at Fujisawa, so if we were at home, we may have been sheltering under the desk and table. \u00a0The footage from a camera on a bridge in Yokohama was shown, which exhibited a violent shake for a few seconds.<\/p>\n
I got dressed and we went down to dinner. \u00a0It was included in our room price, but served at 630 so we couldn’t be late. \u00a0It was a nice meal, and good atmosphere. \u00a0Once we finished we returned to our room and watched some TV while I worked on my blog. \u00a0Kaoru had a bath while I enjoyed another beer, and looked out the window at the lake. \u00a0We eventually called it a night, knowing we had a long day ahead of us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kaoru was up early as usual and went for a bath. \u00a0I dozed for a while and made my way to the main house about 730 for breakfast. \u00a0After an “ohaio gozaiemasu” and green tea we went in for a typical Japanese breakfast. \u00a0Sausages, sweet omlette sytle eggs, tomato, rice, some leftovers from last night, … Continue reading