This blog is all about the pictures. Standing on its own, Mt Fuji has to be one of the most symmetrical, perfectly snow capped mountains you could ever come across. This makes it very photogenic!!
To get there, we caught the Fuji Express from Shinjuku station to Lake Kawaguchi where we stayed overnight. Although Mt Fuji is visible from many parts of the country (including Tokyo), approaching by rail was awesome. The closer we got, the more beautiful it became.
When we arrived, we had a delicious yakitori lunch before heading to Mt Fuji Panoramic Ropeway, a cable car that ascends 400m to a viewing platform offering perfect views of both Mt Fuji and Lake Kawaguchi. Build in 1959, the cable car is well used and probably the most frequented tourist spot in the area (it cost around $10 Australian).
We could not have picked a better day for visibility. It was a beautiful clear afternoon, with only the occasional small cloud passing across obscuring the summit momentarily (as seen in my panoramic below). It was freezing cold but it didn’t stop us from having an ice cream at the top while we took many photos.
We had a bit of drama getting into our accomodation for the night (what is a holiday without at least one such drama?!). Somehow we didn’t receive the necessary check in instructions and spent at least 90 minutes in the cold (somewhere around zero degrees) trying to get a code to open the door!
After speaking to our travel agent in Australia we managed to get in and we were most grateful for the warming heaters and the spectacular views. Some more funny moments followed trying to get some dinner with very little around.
But for me, the highlight of the accomodation was the bikes that were left for our use. I had discovered a food van in a very random spot that did breakfast 7-9:30am. At 9am we set off on bicycles, passing through funny little streets, past small holdings to find the cutest food truck ever. There were giggles and groans as I missed turnoffs and our fingers froze, but it was well worth our troubles.
The truck served amazing rolls filled with local vegetables including lettuce, tomato, capsicum, onion, mushrooms, pumpkin, potato, lotus root, zucchini and…… bacon. They were absolutely delicious and the backdrop was pretty special too.
And, just to keep the family happy….. we were entertained by a couple of village cats while waiting for our food. Somehow, us Travel Bees always find a cat just when we need one!
TTB
The Travel Bee 