Cari and I have now been in Japan for 9 days and for the most part we have felt a lot like Dorthy in the 'Wizard of Oz' when she looks at Toto and says "were not in Kansas anymore". Trying to manage this behemoth city in the intense heat and humidity just about took the joy out of this whole exploring Japan adventure, but I am happy to report that all it took was a change of scenery to get us back on our feet again.
Monday we left our little hole in the wall studio (Cari calls it 'the cave') and joined the millions of people making their way to work. The train was so crowded to the main station that when the doors opened people just fell out like over packed sardines. We then hopped on the 'Romance Train' (a nicer train with reserved seats)and headed out of Tokyo to the mountain towns in the Hakone area for a much needed reprieve from the big city. It did not take long for us to appreciate the green hills and beautiful valley views as we took cable cars, trains, buses and even a gondola to our little guest house. The area is known for hot spring baths (onsen)and our guest house was no exception. It's like a hot tub that stinks due to the sulfur. Sorry, but that really does sum it up. The other big attraction to this whole mountain region is visiting a special sulfur hot spring where you can eat black boiled eggs. Now I can't speak for you, but if someone told me they had a tourist plan to get thousands of people every day to take tour buses to the top of a mountain and then have them walk 15 minutes up a winding path all to eat black eggs that were boiled in smelly sulfur water I would have to say they were mad, but that is exactly what happens day in and day out. There are even a couple restaurants and two large souvenir shops to boot.
The rest of our 3 day adventure was spent taking walks, eating traditional food and doing some souvenir shopping for those back home. It rained the last 24 hours from a typhoon that was near the area, but with our trusty umbrellas we seemed to manage quite well.
Tonight we are back in our little cave enjoying the fact that we have shared so much in this life together and that Jessica is safe and sound in her new school. God is so good and we praise Him for His abundant love.
Good night and enjoy the pictures.
-Kurt
Dear Kurt and Cari, I really enjoyed your photos and story of getting your beautiful daughter off to University, (wasn't she just born just a few years ago? Time goes by so quickly!)
ReplyDeleteJapan is so lovely, we were there 27 years ago but still have the funniest memories of the white gloved pushers on the trains. We looked like we were from Land of the Giants squeezed up against these much shorter Japanese folks. It was so amazing how many extra people they could fit in, just like canning! :-)
Wish we could have seen you when we were home, we'll have to make it happen when we're home again!
Much love to you all, Rick and Sue