We had a plan for our second day in Hakone – do a lake cruise, see some shrines and finally finish the day with the Open Air Museum before going to Kyoto. But of course, things never go the way you plan them. 🙂 When we opened our eyes in the morning, the weather was really bad. So bad, that they closed the Hakone ships and the ropeway. Basically, we got lucky coming here the day before, with sights of Mt. Fuji as a cherry on top.

We decided to pack up and go to Kyoto with an earlier train. But, going to the bus station, the weather seemed to calm down a bit, so we decided to try the Gora side of the mountain before giving up on Hakone entirely. Lake Ashinoko side was so misty and foggy we probably wouldn’t be able to see the famous shrines anyway. (Another thing I am putting on the list for next time). Oh, if you really want to explore Hakone it might be a good idea to rent a car for a few days because lots of sights are kind of remote.

The weather on the other side of the mountain was actually lovely- cool but almost sunny, with a bit of imagination (or maybe with lots of it, but let’s be optimists). We’re not really into museums in general. If we made it into five of them in the past few years, I’d be surprised. But The Hakone Open air museum really is something special. It is a mix of nature, sculptures and impressive playgrounds for kids. Its all very Japan meets Europe, but in a feng-shui style, bringing together nature and art and also a tiny onsen for the tired feet, so you definitely cannot mix it up with Europe. Admission fee: 1600 yen. Also, free lockers are available for people with huge backpacks and you can buy feet towels for 100 yen.

There is also a few indoor exhibitions halls – The Picasso Exhibition Hall is one. Very cool if you’re into Picasso, but we found it a bit depressing tbh.

After the museum, we returned to Odawara and boarded a shinkansen to Kyoto. Or did we? 😀 We literally jumped off the (wrong) train to Nagoya at the last possible moment, otherwise we or at least Žiga would be heading to Nagoya with my JR Pass in his pocket, which would be an adventure. But in the end, we both ended up safely in Kyoto. No nice views from the train because the weather is still shitty everywhere and it will apparently stay this way for the rest of our time in Kyoto.

Our hostel – Piece Hostel Kyoto is a 5 mins walk from Kyoto station and is simply magical. It has a cool lounge & bar, a rooftop terrace, nice staff, an awesome breakfast and it’s gonna be our base for the next few days.

But, we wouldn’t be us if we didn’t squeeze a bit more sightseeing into the day, so we walked around the closest landmark we could find – the station. Who knew that this could count as sightseeing, but Kyoto station really is something else. A mix of architecture, design, trains, exhibitions, restaurants, shopping, hotels and who knows what else in one place. It even has a cute terrace on top with views of the city and Kyoto Tower.

There is a huge part of the 10th floor dedicated to all sorts of ramen – Kyoto Ramen Koji – a whole corridor of noodle shops from 8 different regions of Japan. You order and pay outside on a vending machine, Japanese style.

After exploration, it was time to plan a bit for weeks ahead of us. We finally managed to buy our Ishigaki tickets. We’ll spend the last week of our trip exploring the Yayema islands and we’re really hoping for some sun.

Also, I am starting to feel like I could stay in Japan for the next half a year at least and still see something new and awesome every day. 🙂