Relaxing in Hakone - walking trains, hot springs and fried eggs

Hakone was a welcome contrast to the high rise and bright lights of Tokyo as this is a national park area of natural beauty.

We had a lovely time staying in a Ryoken (traditional Japanese house), sleeping on amazingly comfortable futon beds. 

Setting out across Lake Ashi on a tourist medieval style boat, we caught a glimpse of the majestic snow capped Mount Fuji. The photo here was taken on another occasion from a train journey but nevertheless shows what an awesome sight Fuji is.

We walked along part of the old Tokaido Road which is one of the most important routes of the Edo between Tokyo and Kyoto.  En route we visited the Hakone Shrine with its perfectly located tori gate on the edge of the lake. A perfect spot for a photo opportunity
.

One of the quirkier places in Hakone was the Open Air Museum which included a range of weird and unusual sculptures including my favourite - the fried egg sculpture.

One of the key reasons for a visit to Hakone is to visit the Onsens (hot springs). 
In the day we visited an enormous public spring bath complex that had a wide range of hot springs both indoor and outdoor and included a wine pool (coloured red), a coffee pool (coloured brown) and a sake pool (coloured sake).  Signs instructed bathers not to drink the water.  However we spotted a small child having a quick slurp at the coffee pool!

We were lucky enough to be staying in a Ryoken which had private indoor and outdoor onsens for guests.  It was bliss lying in the hot spring bath late at night watching the stars twinkle above us and thinking how lucky we are to be here.