Four Hundred Six Steps

28 May '16

Our first overnight excursion!  We are spending two nights in Nikko, which is about an hour and a half away (by train) from Kawagoe.  We took a couple short, local train rides before getting on a bullet train that went almost 150mph!

Our professors made sure we wouldn't get hungry and bought us lots of goodies: Matcha Pocky, Chocolate Pocky, Strawberry Pocky, and small bags of chips & nuts.  I also found a "green lemonade," which I assume is green tea and lemonade, in a vending machine in the train station.  It was so yummy!  A lot of the drinks I have had so far here are super sweetened but this was pretty normal.

We were able to manually turn the rows of seats around to face others!

I have talked a lot about taking trains, but haven't posted any pictures before this post.  They are nothing super different from the US but here is what the transportation looks like that I take to get to school and other adventures!

Finally made it to the hotel in Nikko and I was tired.

Here's the view from the hotel room window!  We are right across from the train station.

We will only be here for a few days so we are making the most of it.  Even though most of us were feeling a nap, we headed over to the Toshogu Shrine where I walked up and down 406 steps in total (yes, I counted).  First we had lunch at a small diner at the site.  I had edible plants & yuba (tofu skin) with soba noodles... so yummy!

Look how pretty and green it is!  The trees helped keep the area cool which was much appreciated.

The details on the shrines were my favorite.  There were some areas where photography was prohibited, but here are some of what I could get!  It was so beautiful and interesting, especially to see a lot of the copper on the rooves and decor that was mined from the copper mine we were going to visit the next day.

One of the places we couldn't take pictures in was the temple with amazing accoustics.  We got a guided tour through it where a priest knocked two rectangular wooden blocks together in a very specific point in the room, and it echoed for at least a few seconds.

 The details as well as the line where people tie their fortunes after reading them (you can get one after throwing a ¥100 coin through the slits in the money collection container).

The nature was so beautiful...

We had to option to walk home from the temple or take the bus.  I decided to walk back with Joe Sensei and some of the other students.  It was about a 40 minute walk but it was so worth it!  We got to walk along the river the whole time which was gorgeous!

Once we made it into town, we found a spring on the side of the main street where you could get a drink.  I have taken advantage of it multiple times to fill up my water bottle!

For now,

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