Monday 8th April

Breakfast was another Japanese set menu, beautifully presented with a myriad of small items on the plates & another small heated stove to heat the miso soup. The taste buds were not too enthusiastic over some of the items but we soldiered on & did our best.

Had a later start at 11am due to the rain.

It had rained in the night & early morning & when we left the hotel it was immersed in a moderate fog & about 5°C. The bus took us to the Hakone Open-Air Museum of sculptures, set in a steep, sloping hill side. The mist gave an air of unreality to the park but seemed to enhance some of the works which ranged through the 20th century up to recent times. Unfortunately, we couldn't do the park justice in many ways as there was too much to see including an exhibition of ceramics painted by Picasso along with some of his lithographs & paintings. It would be well worth another visit one day.

The bus then drove us to Lake Ashi, where we went on a bizarre, mock 17th century, pirate ship across from Moto-Hakone to Togendai to be again met by the bus. The purpose was for us to view Mt Fuji but this was not possible as visibility was down to less than 30m. We were so pleased that we saw Fuji yesterday in slightly less bad conditions.

Finally, at 3.45 we went from Shinkansen on a bullet train into Tokyo Central, after watching several other bullet trains race through the station at what seemed to be unbelievable speeds in less than 15minutes. They are so great to see, as they appear to be immaculate & are quite quiet both inside & outside.

The bus picked us up at the square in front of the magnificently restored 19th century, French styled station & took us to our hotel past the Imperial Palace Gardens under some fine cherry trees in full flower.

Had a great Italian meal before retiring to our hotel in the rain.