Wednesday March 23, 2016
Today was our travel day from Hakone to Kanazawa. Before we left the hotel, Mt. Fuji was out in all its glory to say “sayonara” to the visitors.
We rode a bus to Odawara Station. Since we had to travel all day, our guide suggested we purchase bento boxes to eat on the train “like Japanese people do.” There were many shops to choose a fresh lunch:
There was an amazing “food court” on the second floor where I purchased our lunch. Jeff bought pastries at the “famous” Hakone Bakery.
We walked up to our platform to wait as one of the Shinkansen high-speed trains raced past at an astonishing speed. It didn’t even slow down at the station.
Our train arrived at exactly on schedule and we boarded and took our reserved seats. It was incredible to be traveling at 180 mph in relative quiet and comfort.
Scenes of the Japanese country side:
We could see Mt. Fuji from the train so we had a final viewing:
After about an hour in the ‘Bullet’ train, we arrived at Nagoya and changed trains for another three hour ride to Kanazawa.
We ate our delicious Japanese lunch as the train continued.
We arrived and disembarked at the modern station in Kanazawa. We took taxis to the New Grand Hotel, checked in, and rested for a while.
We had been sitting all day so we decided to go out to explore the neighborhood. The weather was cloudy again and the temperature was chilly, but we found a lovely park and shrine complex across the street.
Dinner was at an Italian restaurant nearby. We had spaghetti, chicken pieces, good salad, then cheese cake & green tea gelato for dessert.