Tuesday 8 April 2008

Trains, Trains, Trains and More

Yesterday we went to a very pretty mountain town called Hakone, which is known for its hot springs and stunning views of Mt. Fuji (but it wasn't clear enough yesterday for us to see it well or get a good picture). We rode on a gondola over the woods, and over a funky sulfur mine and then arrived at a lovely lake. Our favorite part about the whole day was all the different kinds of trains (or train like kinds of transportation) we took to get there--5 different kinds of transportation total: the subway, the bullet train, a two car rickety train that wobbled its way through the mountains, a cable car and a gondola. The gondola and the bullet train were our favorites. I didn't care too much for the rickety two car train. I had to close my eyes as we edged along steep inclines--eek. But the bullet train, or Shinkansen, is bad ass! I love it. I'm not sure how fast our train was going, but I think it goes about 275 mph in general. It doesn't feel that fast when you're riding it, but watch one go by the station while you're standing on the platform and you might be surprised that it even stays on the track--it looks like it's going to take off into the air! It is so cool.

The little gondola cars.

Watching other people take pictures of our car dangling in the air while we took pictures of theirs was fun.

Me and Andrew on the gondola.


Interesting pirate ships were docked at the lake when we arrived. You can take a boat tour if you'd like, but we didn't do that because it was so cold.

Cute swan paddle boats.

Hmm, an interesting candy indeed! At least we think it was some kind of candy because it was in the candy section, but we have no idea what it could possibly be made of. The package says, "this is a delicious confectionery filled with gifts from the ground." Gifts from the ground? The mountain / woods / train scene doesn't give us any help figuring it out either.

1 comment:

Tess Kincaid said...

That bullet train is amazing. I rode it years ago and brings back memories. Thrilling experience. It looks like you two are having a wonderful trip!