Day 10 - Mt Fuji sunsets and blueberry tea

Posted on June 13, 2008
Filed Under Australia - The land down under, Japan, Holidays, Breaking news, Things that give me inspiration, Photography - All about the photos Baby! |

The morning of our 10th day in Japan, I looked out the window to our balcony and had a pleasant surprise. It was snowing! Now, I know this really isn’t a big deal to most people, but I hadn’t seen snow in four years and hadn’t realized how much I missed it until then.

It had snowed most of the night and there was an accumulation on the tree branches and roofs. I quickly took some pictures to compliment the ones I had taken the day before and got some nice “Before” and ‘After” shots of the view from our room.

Before

After

On our way out, we met some new people who had arrived the night before. Haiden (2) and his parents. I swiftly fell in love with the half French half Dutch English speaking boy from Spain. (Now there’s a mouthful!) I spent a while chatting to his mother in French (something I never expected to do in Japan) before Sandy and I took to the streets.

Haiden

The snow had turned to rain and everything was getting decidedly slushy so we decided to go to the nearby Gem Museum on Gideon recommendation. It was well worth it and Sandy and I stocked up on some more souvenirs before heading around the lake to Mt Kachi Kachi.

Gem Museum

We boarded the rope car that takes you up the side of the Mountain and ascended into the clouds…literally. It had stopped raining but the clouds had remained lying very low around the peaks of the mountains surrounding the lake.

Mt Kachi Kachi

We met a couple from Hawaii on their honeymoon and took turns taking pictures of each other through the clouds.

The view on top

Stairway to Heaven?

At the top of Mt Kachi Kachi is a bell mounted in a frame the shape of a love heart.  Sandy and I each rung the bell and wandered about taking pictures of the scenery and the usual animated characters hanging about.

The Bell (I wasn’t kidding about the clouds)

What IS that rabbit doing to that bear??

After lunch in a lakeside café, we met up with Gideon and headed to Oishii Park. The clouds had been steadily clearing and we were hoping to get some sunset pictures of Mt Fuji across Lake Kawaguchicko.

There is a lovely little café on the shore of the lake that specializes in blueberry dishes so armed with my blueberry tea, we watched the sun set over the mountain periodically leaving the warmth of the café to take pictures as the clouds blew away leaving a wispy cap on Mt Fuji’s tip.

My Tea

I’m afraid the quality of my pictures can’t stand up to Gideons’ SLR and tripod but I think they turned out OK. Perhaps my perpetually shaking hands (It was damn cold, I tell you!) had something to do with my poor pictures.

Shortly after we got there

After waiting for the clouds to blow away

A little later…almost dusk (See the pink tinge?)

Sunset

We stocked up on more souvenirs and headed back to the hostel feeling pretty satisfied with the day on the whole.

Met by the incredible bowl of multiplying spaghetti (Fred and Lisa had cooked enough to feed an army) we ate dinner and settled in the movie room with the whole gang (Fred, Lisa, Gideon, and Ryan, Haiden’s dad, Sandy and Myself) to watch Kill Bill.

Post movie madness

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