If only...

...the weather had been better, then I would not have had to make a fake picture of Flo and the kids in front of Mount Fuji. We were at that location, but so was the mist and/or low cloud.

It seems that when we visit some big volcanoes as in this case and in New Zealand, they go into hiding, but to be honest we are spoiled as we have seen literally hundreds of volcanoes in Iceland, Chile and Bolivia, and in Kenya we also really saw Kilimanjaro (not faking).

Although missing Fuji was a bit of a disappointment for the kids (Flo and I have seen it before), the rest of the Hakone area was nice to visit, especially the Hakone shrine, where we had the luck to visit it when it was entirely empty. There, the misty background gave the whole place an eery mystical feel. The giant trees are impressive, as is the wonderful setting of the temple. Really special!

We stayed two nights in the little village of Motohakone on the lake, again in a very small apartment for 6. Because the restaurants all closed early or didn’t stay open for dinner (only for day trippers), we had two treats. 1st night we had, because we had no other choice, pizza, and boy did it taste good. I love Asian food, but from time to time, the tastes from nearer to home are welcome. I actually can't remember the last time I had a pizza. The 2nd night, we stayed in, and Lola showed off her cooking skills by making us all a bowl of sukiaki. Delicious! If you are interested, Lola will cook you this for $50 per person.Read more