We checked out of the hotel and took a taxi to the train
station to board the Shinkansen
(Bullet Train) heading for the city of: Odawara. Before boarding I bought a
Bento box to eat on the train. This is very traditional, and most of the people
on the train bring Bento boxes. They are sold in the train station and are of
every variety of food. I chose pork cutlets.
Flawlessly (as all the connections are) as soon as we
stepped off the train and exited through the turnstiles, our driver was waiting
for us holding up a sign with our names. He spoke no English at all. We then
drove for 40 minutes up a very windy, narrow two lane mountain road. We were
headed for the small city of Hokone to Gora Kadan our home for the next two
days. This was the former retreat for the Imperial Family. It is breathtaking.
Gora Kadan is an Oncen. That means it has natural hot springs for bathing. Our
room has a private outdoor pool just for Cathy and I. They also have public
bathing facilities (men and women are separate).
You needn’t pack your clothes when you come here, because
our butler, Hiroshi, dresses us up in Yukata for our stay. You never wear
western clothes in the Oncen, just the Yukata and its matching down vest. Hiroshi,
shows us how to dress and does everything for us. There is no public dinning.
We eat alone in our room served by Hiroshi. The whole idea of coming here is to
decompress, there are a few museums in the area that we will visit, but
essentially it is relax, eat, drink, massage, bath – repeat until you leave. We
took our first hot spring bath, then walked around Gora Kadan taking in the
architecture and the beautiful natural setting.
Dinner was served to us in our dining room it was a classic
Kaiseki dinner. We had nine small (and not so small courses). The highlight for
us was a white miso soup the Sashmi and the grilled Spanish Mackerel with miso
sauce. Of course two carafes of sake made the dinner perfect.
As full as I was I scheduled an after dinner massage at
10pm. What an introduction to Gora Kadan.
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2 comments:
Cathy, just noticed how long your hair is getting. Are you turning Japanese?
There is nothing better than a ryokan, except one with an onsen. Hope you're staying for a week.
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