More Japan!

Saturday Saturday was my favourite day. Finally we escaped the clutches of the city and found real peace at last. Amy was soon pining for the noise of civilisation again, but me and Christa were quite content. Most of the day was spent in transit on a multitude of trains and buses, but owing to the scenary, this was part of the joy of the day: Typically Amy slept through much of the journey. As soon as that girl's bottom hits a seat, she's asleep. First stop was a small town named Fuji Kawaguchiko, which may well be most popular for it's excellent views for Mount Fuji, although by the time we arrived the top was unfortunately shrouded in cloud... Because our legs really hadn't gotten enough excercise over the previous three days of constant walking, we hired out a 'swan' as the sun was going down, and peddled out over the lake to take a few pictures of the sun setting over the mountains. We finally made it to our accomodation - a traditional Japanese-style guesthouse - well after dark. Japanese-style means basically you get an empty room with a few straw mats and blankets and sheets to sleep under. Best nights sleep I'd had all week, but then, we were nearing exhaustion at this point. And as promised in the guidebook we were indeed greeted at the door by the owner's cute little dog... This place had a rather harsh TEN o'clock curfew, but since it was pretty much a one-horse town anyway with little to offer other than the obligatory shrine, we were content to grab some sushi in the restaurant next door (which we found despite our landlady's insistence that there were no Japanese restaurnats in town) and take some beer back with us again. After a delightful soak in the Japanese-style bath (my first proper bath in over three months!) and much beer and sleep-deprived giggling later, we slept soundly.