Nikko

Now I usually pack light but this trip was exceptionally ridiculous. We didn't really have any bags for a long weekend since none of our stuff is here so this is what I was stuck with for a 3 day 2 night trip (including rain gear)

This was truly a trip where we took the most types of transportation possible. We rode our bikes to the train station, took a train and had to change trains twice, then walked a few blocks, then took a subway, then another train for 2 hours, then a bus, then more walking. It was crazy! All of this and it would have taken about the same amount of time to drive. You have never seen more traffic and stop lights than in Japan.

When we arrived at the train station we ate. What else would we do? We had awesome curry and pizza at this bistro type place with faux brick and a vault door inside leading to another dining room. Really cool place.

The purpose of this grand effort was to get to Nikko. This is a historic area north of Tokyo. There were amazing shrines, temples, and other historic sites. We had to take our shoes on and off about a zillion times to enter these sites but it was well worth it.

Everything is ornately chisled in wood and then vibrantly painted.

These are prayer slips that people write on and then tie on different spots.

Here is another temple/shrine. I am not sure exactly what is the difference yet. It seemed like there were a lot of temples. It was basically a whole little town of buildings, one more ornate than the next.

Quinn looked like he might have been in danger.

Not sure what these were but they were everywhere and very beautiful.

Here is a really cool water fountain.

We stayed in real log cabins. The owners of this place are a trip. They run a school for learning to make log cabins and they definately know what they are doing. The places are very small but have really interesting architecture. The area is beautiful and they have multiple acres of property which seems to be very rare around Japan.

There is also a beautiful lake and waterfall in Nikko. This waterfall is one of the biggest in Japan. THey have an elevator you can go down to see the whole waterfall but we skipped that this trip. I would like to do a hike into the canyon next time though.

You can also rent peddle boats to go around the lake. They seemed a little top heavy to me!

Here was the start of a hiking trail. We ran into a person coming down with a ton of gear and he told us it was six hours to the top. Needless to say we turned around immediately. Quinn was wearing flip flops and the only water we had was in a small bottle. Maybe next time.

Here is Quinn and I in front of a historic bridge. Not sure what is the historical significance is though because everything was in Japanese. But all the Japanese people were taking pictures in front of it so we did too. When in Rome.....