Shake and Spurt


We woke us up this morning with a little jolt – a magnitude 3.3 earthquake.  The epicenter was in our area.  Other than a little shaking, there was no damage where we were.

Our plan today was to explore the area around Hakone, the site of an active volcano.  Since May the warning level around the volcano has been at Level 2 which bans people from going near the crater.  This meant that the Rope Car (gondola) across the crater was closed.  But, we still had access to the various buses, trains, cable car and a boat ride in the area.

Our first stop of the day was at the Amazake-chaya Tea House.  It is an ancient rest stop for travelers that used the Tokaido Trail through the mountain passes.  We enjoyed some regular hot tea and a sweet miso-like beverage called Amazake.


  
Once energized by our refreshments, we set out for a 2km hike along the Tokaido Trail.  The path was laid with moss covered rocks that, in ancient times, was edged with bamboo.  The enormous trees of the surrounding forest provided a cool canopy as we ascended the hill.



We stopped for lunch and some legendary black eggs by Lake Ashi.  These black eggs undergo a laborious boiling process involving extremely hot temperatures and sulfur, which give them their black colour and odorous smell.  However, it’s worth it because it’s said that eating one will add 7 years to your life. (And they tasted pretty good)



Next we took a voyage across Lake Ashi, a fresh water lake formed when the volcano erupted 800 years ago.  Views of Mt. Fuji once again eluded us due to the low lying clouds, but the views of the forests surrounding the lake were beautiful.



After our boat cruise we were going to take a bus around the crater to the cable car (since we couldn’t take the rope car), but were directed to a different bus.  Along this route we had a quick glimpse of the volcano.  There was a LOT of steam coming from it.  When we arrived at the entrance to the cable car, we were told it was closed.  We were also told the boat cruise was closed.  It wasn’t until later that we found out that our cruise was the last one before they closed it due to an upgrade of the volcano warning to Level 3.  What we’d seen from the bus, was the volcano actually having a small eruption!


For our last evening together with The Cousins, the kids went swimming at the hotel pool and ate dinner together in the room, while the adults went to a local restaurant for Japanese BBQ with Kobe beef.  We enjoyed the food and company and laughed about our escapades from the past few days.

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