A beautiful view of Mt. Fuji on the way to Matsumoto - Japan at Cherry Blossom 2023 - 5
20.03.2023 - A beautiful view of Mt. Fuji on the way to Matsumoto
Weather: Nice, sunny spring weather
Walking distance: 8.5 km
Today we leave Tokyo. The announced meeting time in the lobby is 8:15am but because of the always crowded elevators, everyone is early.
For the only time on this trip, we take a private bus to reach our next destination. After departure, we use the time for some organizational topics like handing out seat reservations for the train rides or preparing the reservations for the helicopter rides at Mt. Aso at the end of the trip.
Already on the way we have a clear view of Mt. Fuji [↗] and everyone is taking pictures through the bus windows just in case it will disappear behind clouds later.
We stop at Lake Kawaguchi [↗]. You can't see Mount Fuji from where we stop, but all of us have decided to take the ropeway to a viewing area anyhow. We are really lucky because in spring it is often so foggy that you can't see the mountain at all. Even our Djoser guide, who has been to Japan a few times, has only seen it twice, but never so clearly.
After our return, the bus takes us to a viewpoint on the other side of the lake. Also from here you have a nice view of the mountain with the lake and some reeds and other greenery in the foreground.
It's now already 1:30pm as we had to wait more than half an hour in the queue of the ropeway. So the next stop is to grab something to eat at a rest area another 30 minutes away. This is only a short stop because we still have 90 minutes to Matsumoto and the bus has to return to Tokyo today.
The hotel is directly opposite the train station and next to the long-distance bus station, which we will use tomorrow. The room is even smaller than the one in Tokyo and there is actually no room for the suitcase. I have to take out what I want, close it again, and put it aside.
Tomorrow our main luggage will be transported directly to Kyoto while we take a public bus to Takayama. We have to take out what we need for that night and put it in a separate hand luggage. This is quite common in Japan, especially when traveling by train, and is called Takkyubin. So I briefly make up my mind about what to separate and then go out to make some evening photos.
We are right in the city center and the main attraction, the castle [↗], is just 1.5 km away. Otherwise, there is not much to see and the streets of the city are rather unattractive from a photographic point of view. But the castle is nice and I will return tomorrow morning when it opens for visitors.
The sun is just setting behind a mountain and there won't be much color in the sky anyway. I check where exactly the restaurant I looked up (Soba Kobayasi) is. Good idea - I figure out that it is already closing at 7pm.
So, I go to dinner with another couple from the group and postpone the photos of the illuminated castle.
The restaurant serves mainly handmade Soba, a type of noodle made of buckwheat. In the end, it's a big pot of noodle soup topped with some duck breast (you can have a different topping as well). It's pretty tasty, even for someone who isn't the biggest fan of soups. What is super nice is that we get a pack of noodles as a gift to take home at the checkout.
In the meantime, it has become dark and we go back to the castle. I didn't bring a normal tripod, because I read that they are forbidden in most, if not all, temples, but my Platypod [↗]. This is an (expensive) piece of metal where you can mount a ball head on top. Sounds stupid, but works pretty well. The early morning shots in Venice for example I've taken with it too. In most places, you have to go super low, but that is very often what helps to get a good photo.
As expected the castle is nicely illuminated and I take a couple of shots mainly with the castle reflected in the water moat.
After a while, I call it a day and return to the hotel for the usual tasks like backing up the pictures of the day and writing some notes for this travelogue.
