We left Tokyo around 10 am, and stopped over at Hayama, a beautiful city by the sea with a marina. I wanted to have lunch at La Maree de Chaya by the sea, but we got there only to find they were closed on Mondays...: ( My bad for not making reservations!!!
So we went to Marlow, where they are famous for the custard puddings!! They also have a great food menu that uses locally and organically grown vegetables and seafood. Everything we had was delicious.
After lunch we drove for about another hour or so to Hakone. We went to Hakone Ginyu, which was a relaxing Japanese ryokan/ Bali resort fusion onsen. They welcomed us with drinks on their balcony overlooking the mountains of Hakone. They were built on a cliff, so they have the view of the entire mountain on the other side. You are actually at the eye level of birds soaring the mountains, and it was breathtaking. The fresh greenery this time of year was exquisite...the colors reminded me of a painting by Kaii Higashiyama, a Japanese painter I love. They say he traveled all around Japan for beautiful scenery... he may just have seen this scenery as well.
Each room had its own private bathtub outside, and we could enjoy the onsen and the scenery at once. Truly refreshing. Yuuki loooooved the bathtub, and he played until his fingers were wrinkly. It's great to have a private tub especially with babies since you can hop in as many times as you want. Mizuki and I were able to enjoy a starry night onsen while Yuuki slept in the room where we could see.
We all had a great time and we were so happy Yuuki was able to spend some quality time with his grandparents.
