Thursday, December 27, 2018

Christmas in Yugawara - 2018

This year we decided to spend Christmas in the Izu peninsula hot spring resort town of Yugawara.

One of the most charming aspects of the town of Yugawara is the stream that runs through it.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that there were still some beautiful autumn leaves on the trees.


That's Emi in the lower left corner.

The weather report said that it would be a fine day. The weather report was wrong.

As we wondered through some back streets I noticed this old Inn. Looks very cozy.

It is raining. I had to buy a cheap plastic umbrella at a convenience store.

A little rain is not going to stop us from having fun.

Yes, a little icy cold rain and lower temperature; my shoes are wet... yep, we're having the time of our lives!

Into each life a little rain will fall, just be thankful to have an umbrella when it does.

Time to turn around and walk back to our hotel where a steaming hot onsen bath is waiting for us.

The town is built around the river.

The river is criss-crossed with small bridges.

As the river curves so do the roads.

It's getting dark out, the street lights are starting to come on; it's only 13:00 pm in the afternoon. I think it may start to snow.

Despite the bad weather it is fun to walk along this river.

Decorative ornaments on top of a guard that prevents cars from crossing the bridge.

Day three: we decided to take the local bus over a mountain pass to visit Lake Ashi in Hakone. This is the bus stop near our hotel, the weather report is good, should be a fine day. I'm looking forward to this adventure.

Here comes the bus! Why is the sky turning grey?

It was a fifty minute bus ride to Hakone. After getting off the bus we walked part of the old Tokaido trail.

Here I am by the lake front. The sky is getting darker but I'm not worried because the weather report said it would be a fine day. Hey, there is a tiny spot of blue color in the sky.

We visited a famous art museum near the lake. This is the view from the lounge that faces the lake. Looks like a fine day, yes?

It's raining.

It's raining really hard now! I didn't bring my new cheap plastic umbrella with me because of the weather report.

Well, we stayed in the museum for another 40 minutes and the rain finally stopped, kind of.

A smart man with an umbrella walking his dog.

We started following the lake shore back to the bus terminal.

A fellow photographer without an umbrella.

On a clear day one has a magnificent view of Mt. Fuji from here.  The view is so nice they sell picture postcards of it. Yes, it's a hell of a scenic view on a nice day.

Back on the bus to Yugawara. Surprisingly, or maybe not, for most of the return trip we were the only two people on the bus. It's a downhill trip from Hakone to Yugawara with plenty of twists and turns. Our bus driver drove that bus like it was a sports car. I wish I could have mounted a video camera on the front of the bus, I'm sure it would scare the heck out of anyone viewing the film.

The next day we returned to our home in Yokosuka; it was a fine day.

Thanks for stopping by!
Mike

Bonus shots!