We had an early start today with a 7:26am train from Tokyo station to Odawara, southwest of Tokyo. We took one of the speed trains and it was pretty awesome. The slower trains took an hour and a half while our train got us there in 40 minutes.
At the very end of our train ride we got a glimpse of Mt. Fuji. Click on the picture to see.
While in Odawara we bought our Hakone free passes (not free by the way) which made it so most of our transportation around Hakone was covered by that pass. In the end, the pass really paid for itself and then some. We took a bus from Odawara station to the Fuji-Hakone guest house to drop off our luggage. The bus ride was 50 minutes or so and gave us a glimpse of the surrounding mountains and greenery. It really was pretty and it was nice being out of the city. From the guest house we got on another bus and rode up to Gora station. We took a cable car up to Sounzan
and from there we hiked to Owakudani.
On our hike we saw several signs about the sulphur gases around and actually saw the gases coming from the mountain side.
Once we got to Owakudani we of course had to have eggs boiled in the sulphur water.
Supposedly if you ate one you had 7 years longevity.
Ben liked the picture of Hello Kitty in the egg and we both had no idea why Hello Kitty was in the egg.
The egg didn't taste any different than a normal boiled egg. We then walked the nature trail and saw the mountain side and some thermal features. Lunch was up next and we both had beef curry with rice. I have no idea what kind of curry, but it was not an Indian or Thai curry, so I guess I would say it was Japanese curry. It was really, really good. We then hopped on the rope way to Togendai.
Supposedly this was one of the good opportunities to see Mt. Fuji, but the once clear sky had clouded and we couldn't see Mt. Fuji. We then took a boat that looked like a pirate ship
across Lake Ashi. Again, we were supposed to get a good view of Mt. Fuji, but no luck. I was really disappointed. The only reason I had us come to Hakone was to get closer to Mt. Fuji so we could get a good look at it. We looked around the area where the ship dropped us off including an old checkpoint
where the men used to stop women from leaving Japan. It was never explained why the women wanted to leave or why they were stopped, so it was a little confusing. Here I am on the lookout for women trying to leave. :)
We then took another boat over to the Hakone-jinja shrine
At the very end of our train ride we got a glimpse of Mt. Fuji. Click on the picture to see. 
While in Odawara we bought our Hakone free passes (not free by the way) which made it so most of our transportation around Hakone was covered by that pass. In the end, the pass really paid for itself and then some. We took a bus from Odawara station to the Fuji-Hakone guest house to drop off our luggage. The bus ride was 50 minutes or so and gave us a glimpse of the surrounding mountains and greenery. It really was pretty and it was nice being out of the city. From the guest house we got on another bus and rode up to Gora station. We took a cable car up to Sounzan 
and from there we hiked to Owakudani. 
On our hike we saw several signs about the sulphur gases around and actually saw the gases coming from the mountain side.
Once we got to Owakudani we of course had to have eggs boiled in the sulphur water. 
Supposedly if you ate one you had 7 years longevity. 
Ben liked the picture of Hello Kitty in the egg and we both had no idea why Hello Kitty was in the egg. 
The egg didn't taste any different than a normal boiled egg. We then walked the nature trail and saw the mountain side and some thermal features. Lunch was up next and we both had beef curry with rice. I have no idea what kind of curry, but it was not an Indian or Thai curry, so I guess I would say it was Japanese curry. It was really, really good. We then hopped on the rope way to Togendai. 
Supposedly this was one of the good opportunities to see Mt. Fuji, but the once clear sky had clouded and we couldn't see Mt. Fuji. We then took a boat that looked like a pirate ship
across Lake Ashi. Again, we were supposed to get a good view of Mt. Fuji, but no luck. I was really disappointed. The only reason I had us come to Hakone was to get closer to Mt. Fuji so we could get a good look at it. We looked around the area where the ship dropped us off including an old checkpoint 
where the men used to stop women from leaving Japan. It was never explained why the women wanted to leave or why they were stopped, so it was a little confusing. Here I am on the lookout for women trying to leave. :) 
We then took another boat over to the Hakone-jinja shrine
and looked around there still hoping to see Mt. Fuji. We got on another boat to go one place, but ended up going back to the rope-way that we had come on. On that boat I was looking outside and then I saw it. I saw Mt. Fuji. For the past hour we had been looking in the wrong direction. I was so excited. We took a whole bunch of pictures. It really was amazing. Mt. Fuji is definitely a site to see. Wow. We got back on the rope way and continued to keep taking pictures. Here are my favorite pictures. Because Mt. Fuji is covered in snow, you'll probably have to click on the picture to see it in a bigger version of the picture.
After two rope-ways, a cable car and a bus, we finally made it back to our guest house. We checked into our room and then took off to find a place to eat dinner. After some frustration we finally found a place serving Japanese food. We were given appetizers 
and then our main meal. I had chicken terriaki and Ben had some pork meal. After we finished our dinner the nice lady serving us brought us dessert which included a tray with oranges, crackers and an American flag. 
It was a nice surprise and a kind gesture. We were also given small origami cranes and handmade bookmarks. I so didn't expect this anywhere in Japan and it really was nice. We then went back to the guest house. It was a mix between a bed and breakfast and a hostel, but was very comfortable. We were given Japanese sleeping clothes and slept on the floor, but it was so comfortable. 
The guest house also had a private outdoor hot spring which we spent some time in. It was really nice, relaxing and hot. The Hakone area is famous for it's osen (hot springs) and it was nice to just sit and relax in a private one.
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