a long day

Day 2 of Hakone

The hotel we're staying at offers an all-you-can-eat breakfast for free, but the only thing they serve is bread and pastries. Though it may no be the best bread in the world, it works for me. 

I must have eaten twenty of these. loll

Our first destination today was the Hakone Open-Air Museum. If I came alone, I probably would have overlooked this museum because it didn't seem all that interesting in the Hakone travel pamphlet. However, a friend of Alexie's said that we had to visit, so we gave it a shot.

It was, indeed, a nice museum. I don't know much about art, but I do appreciate it. Looking at the abstract figures just brings your mind to another world, and I really wonder what message the artist is trying to convey.

  

    

   

Observatory

Once again, a foot bath! There were oranges placed in the water.  

   

The souvenir shop sold all sorts of cute and random things.

And a giant net (for children only, though =\).

   

There was also a mini maze in the museum. From above, you could see the entire structure, including the people wandering around inside.

   

So is the place worth visiting? Definitely. I spent hours in there because there was just so much to see. One of my favorite places, though, was this musical creation. No cameras were allowed, so I couldn't take any pictures, but it was basically unwanted bits and pieces of things (aka trash lol) strategically placed together to create music (kind of like dominoes; you push one thing that is connected to another and it hits something to make a sound).

After we left the museum, we headed for Lake Ashinoko.

To get to the lake, you need to take a cable car and ropeway.

   

view from the cable car.

Ashinoko

Perfect day for a cruise! 

  

Though it was a thirty-minute cruise, the ride across passed by in no time. 

  

There was this ice cream shop right next to the port of the boat that sold ice cream in all different flavors. There was wasabi, custard, rose, soy sauce—you name it. The one I ended up ordering was soba.

We took a walk around The Onshi Hakone Park (恩賜箱根公園) to look for The Detached Palace and wandered onto a nice walking trail with scenic views of Lake Ashi and Mount Fuji.

   

At one point, there was an observation deck out in the open. Late in the afternoon, you could see the sun that was beginning to set. It was really relaxing, really peaceful. Nobody was around to bother you, and no cars were around to disturb you.

Captured through the lens of a binocular. The water of Lake Ashi, sparkling in the sunlight.

  

Ashikawa Bridge, one of the 100 best views of Japan.

After a long day of walking around, we were starving, so instead, we went to grab dinner at this Italian restaurant called Auntie Pasta. It was only eight in the evening, but most of the restaurants were already closing up. Only this one was still open, and even then, we were only just in time for the last call.

 

  

Seasonal special spaghetti and seafood pizza.

We ended the day by relaxing at the Yunessun Spa, which was right in the area. Yunessun is basically separated into two parts: one is the onsen, Mori no Yu, and the other is like a water park. We went to the onsen because it was already dark and the water park was closed anyway. Unfortunately, they were having problems with the lights in the women's section, so it was really dark in the showers. Overall, I thought it was pretty mediocre. It cost ¥1800 to enter into Mori no Yu, but we got a ¥500 discount from the hotel we were staying at. There were several baths, but I didn't think it was anything special compared to the other onsen I've been to in Japan so far. If I ever come to Hakone again, I'd probably just go to the water park just to see what it's like and settle for the hotel onsen.