Weekend of the 16th (pics)
Last weekend, I went with my host dad and some of his friends from work (men and women) on trip to ... probably Yamanashi. I can't be sure, because we drove there. But s you'll be able to tell from the pictures, it was, at any rate, someplace very close to Mount Fuji.
I'm gonna warn you right now, these are basically a million and one pictures of Mount Fuji. And actually, I took about 3 more pictures for every one that I'm posting, so.
These I took when we were still in the car driving toward our destination. (This explains the odd glare from the car windows that you can kind of see. X|)
You can kind of see this bird shape (富士山の鴿) on the right side of the mountain in these pictures. They told me that it was really special that we could see that, because it's only supposed to be visible for a short time during the year. *shrug*
We took the train to Shinjuku and our ride was waiting there for us. The driver was the oldest guy in the group, and he had an American van. I actually didn't notice for an hour or so that the steering wheel was on the wrong (or rather, correct) side.
When we got there, we went to this 商店街 and there was all this 試食. There was even one place where all 6 of us got free soba! Like, 3 courses of it. o__o And there were people all along the way giving out free peanuts, raisins, everything you can think of. We actually bought some 焼きもち, too. I forget what the place was called~ (Tan? w) but evidently it was a touristy sort of place. It was pretty, though.
Gosh, I'm gonna have to post some more pictures in another batch, because there was a place where you could drink the water, and a water wheel that was like, pounding flour for soba ... and stuff like that.
Anyway, this was the gate to the garden of a privately-owned house, my host father said. It was a Japanese garden and evidently you used to be able to go in for free, but they'd closed it since he'd last been there.
This was a picture I took from the patio of this little shop we stopped at. The group bought some soft-serve
and some shaved ice, and I and the other woman that was there at the time ate it. I think pictures like this came out really good because it was so sunny that day. They usually look like they were taken on a extremely cloudy, or even rainy day. But that day it was bright. (I didn't even have to Photoshop them.)
That night, we bought some meat and corn on the cob, potatoes, 薩摩いも, and cooked them on the outdoor grill (Japanese-style). It was really good and filling. Then after dinner, they decided they wanted to go try to get a look at Fuji-san before the sun set.
There was a lake within walking distance, so we walked down there and I took these at sunset.
I guess you could sort of rent these swan boats to ride around the lake and get closer to Fuji-san. Some of them looked like they weren't in use anymore, and were just sitting around on the shore. (That's why those are in the picture. w)
I guess at this point, I was just surprised my camera was taking such good pictures, and just taking them to see how long it would last. ^^;
Oh yeah, and as we were taking pictures, a real swan came over, so I took a picture of it, too. (They look like "an artist's conception" or ... photomanip or something. Not like pictures I took myself, you know?)
The next morning, you could still see Fuji-san, so we went down there again and looked at it some more. w I think some people got up at dawn or something to do the same thing, but ... I was fine with sleeping. w
On this trip, we went to 3 different onsen. That was fun, because I felt like I got a bunch of different onsen experiences all in one go. The only thing was, you couldn't really bring a camera in there. This is a picture of a poster at the 3rd one we went to. This is what the bath looked like, minus the mountain, because it had clouded over by the time we got there. (At the first bath, you could see it, though it was partially obscured by trees, and the second onsen we went to was at night. w)
Like I said, I might have to make another post in order to include everything I want ... we'll see what I have time for.
I'm gonna warn you right now, these are basically a million and one pictures of Mount Fuji. And actually, I took about 3 more pictures for every one that I'm posting, so.
These I took when we were still in the car driving toward our destination. (This explains the odd glare from the car windows that you can kind of see. X|)
You can kind of see this bird shape (富士山の鴿) on the right side of the mountain in these pictures. They told me that it was really special that we could see that, because it's only supposed to be visible for a short time during the year. *shrug*
We took the train to Shinjuku and our ride was waiting there for us. The driver was the oldest guy in the group, and he had an American van. I actually didn't notice for an hour or so that the steering wheel was on the wrong (or rather, correct) side.
When we got there, we went to this 商店街 and there was all this 試食. There was even one place where all 6 of us got free soba! Like, 3 courses of it. o__o And there were people all along the way giving out free peanuts, raisins, everything you can think of. We actually bought some 焼きもち, too. I forget what the place was called~ (Tan? w) but evidently it was a touristy sort of place. It was pretty, though.
Gosh, I'm gonna have to post some more pictures in another batch, because there was a place where you could drink the water, and a water wheel that was like, pounding flour for soba ... and stuff like that.
Anyway, this was the gate to the garden of a privately-owned house, my host father said. It was a Japanese garden and evidently you used to be able to go in for free, but they'd closed it since he'd last been there.
This was a picture I took from the patio of this little shop we stopped at. The group bought some soft-serve
and some shaved ice, and I and the other woman that was there at the time ate it. I think pictures like this came out really good because it was so sunny that day. They usually look like they were taken on a extremely cloudy, or even rainy day. But that day it was bright. (I didn't even have to Photoshop them.)
That night, we bought some meat and corn on the cob, potatoes, 薩摩いも, and cooked them on the outdoor grill (Japanese-style). It was really good and filling. Then after dinner, they decided they wanted to go try to get a look at Fuji-san before the sun set.
There was a lake within walking distance, so we walked down there and I took these at sunset.
I guess you could sort of rent these swan boats to ride around the lake and get closer to Fuji-san. Some of them looked like they weren't in use anymore, and were just sitting around on the shore. (That's why those are in the picture. w)
I guess at this point, I was just surprised my camera was taking such good pictures, and just taking them to see how long it would last. ^^;
Oh yeah, and as we were taking pictures, a real swan came over, so I took a picture of it, too. (They look like "an artist's conception" or ... photomanip or something. Not like pictures I took myself, you know?)
The next morning, you could still see Fuji-san, so we went down there again and looked at it some more. w I think some people got up at dawn or something to do the same thing, but ... I was fine with sleeping. w
On this trip, we went to 3 different onsen. That was fun, because I felt like I got a bunch of different onsen experiences all in one go. The only thing was, you couldn't really bring a camera in there. This is a picture of a poster at the 3rd one we went to. This is what the bath looked like, minus the mountain, because it had clouded over by the time we got there. (At the first bath, you could see it, though it was partially obscured by trees, and the second onsen we went to was at night. w)
Like I said, I might have to make another post in order to include everything I want ... we'll see what I have time for.