Today we leave Tokyo but we decided to get a lunch time train so that we didn’t have to rush, as it was another beautiful day we decided to go for one final walk round the block before we had to check out of the hotel. As we walked round we ended up back at the Senso-ji Temple area again which was really busy today, as we were walking round the back we spotted another temple which we hadn’t previously seen, this is the one where the bell is chimed at 6am every day, we had heard this but as it only rang 3 times I had thought it was 3am not 6! The temple was closed so we couldn’t see in so we left there and went in search of the other gate Chris had seen on the map, we found it but it wasn’t behind the temple but to the right. It was actually quite small but had two guardians just like the main gate. Next to this there there was also a Shinto gate into another group of buildings – we could tell it was Shinto as it was a wooden arch and Isa had explained this the other day these looked like accommodation buildings and may be where the monks stay. It was then time to return to the hotel, pick up our rucksacks as we had sent our bags on their way yesterday, I think we had the trainee organise the bag transfer as it seemed to take ages to arrange and we began to wonder if it would have been easier to take them with us! Nevertheless they are on their way so we checked out and set off on the next part of our journey. The first part should have been easy as it was the metro and JLR to Tokyo station but strangely we didn’t seem to be able to find the entrance to the metro even though we have used it every day so far a quick look at google maps and we were back on track. We arrived at the station with plenty of time so went up to the platform to watch the Shinkansen (bullet train) come and go before getting onto ours and settling in for the hour journey to Hakone. Just as we were pulling into the station we had a great view of Mount Fuji which if the weather forecast is to be believed may be the only one we get! When we arrived at the station our taxi was waiting so it was just a case of jumping in at and heading off to the hotel. We arrived a little early which is probably a good thing as checkin took a while, we were also provided with an information guide on how to dress in the Japanese Yukata should we decide to do so, we also picked the time we want to eat dinner for the next couple of days and got information on breakfast and where our room is although it wasn’t ready until 3pm so we decamped to the bar and watched the world go by until the receptionist arrived with our key. We had another drink then went up to the room to try on our Yukata’s which was very funny as we don’t seem to be the right shape, the room has 3 sets of shoes for us, flip flops for wearing around the hotel, slippers for the room and a pair of WC slippers for when we are in the bathroom, we only have one pair of these so we obviously have to share! We had a rest until dinner time then set off for the restaurant. We decided against wearing the Yamaha and flip flops but were probably the only people in the restaurant that didn’t, we had a private dinning room where we sat on the floor and were served by our individual waitress. We were provided with a menu but unfortunately it was in Japanese so it was guess work what we had, the first course was raw fish – salmon, possibly tuna and something else this came with a mashed potato pot that had ham, artichoke and potato in it, and a biscuit thing that had a white paste in it. The next course was easier to identify it was cooked fish with rice, next was steak with a mushroom, then rice, ginger and miso soup, finally some very sweet fruits. Definitely an experience, this all took about an hour to eat then we went to the bar for a final drink and bed.
