Somewhere along the way, this actually became a journal?
So! With yet another week of no classes for me, you can bet them I am just. Sparkling. But that's okay, because at least I have a shirogane class this week. ^^
In other news, there's a hotspring town in the immediate area that was apparently one of the inspirations for Spirited Away. I went to check out Ikaho on Saturday with my friends J and V. It was pretty awesome! We caught the bus at about 10:30, and got up to the town at 11 something. There was a bit of confusion at first, but then we quickly found the Stone Stairs for which the town is famous. (Pretty sure that it's the town, instead of the bath, that was used in the movie, but who knows~)
First things first, we went to the archery story and did a little archery. Guys, I am still terrible at this game, but is just as much fun as it was that one time we did it in middle school! Sometimes I wish that there had been archery and rowing on offer at my schools.
Then we started walking up the hill, looking for the outdoor onsen that was somewhere at the top. None of us had been there before, so it was a case of the blind leading the blind, ie, I ended up taking us first to the shrine, and then halfway along a forest path to nowhere. (Which I don't regret, because hey! There was some snow on it. :DDDD) "Welcome to a Lizzie-adventure," I said to my companions, at which point they were like, "You're slightly bizarre~".
Then we walked back down the path, back to the shrine, down the shrine steps and then followed the sign around to the road that lead to the actual bath. About five or ten minutes of walking later, we found it. We knew we were on the right track because the stream turned orange! This was an actual hot spring, and not just a public bath, so it was full of sulphur. (f? ph? Aaaah-) It was really relaxing!
After we got out (just as eight million women came in and made it really difficult to get dressed again, since the changing area was not so large), we headed back down and got ourselves some delicious lunch. And then we left! This is because there were not many buses leaving that town, and in order to make my last bus from the train station, we had to leave Ikaho on the three o'clock bus. BE END.
All in all, it was a very pleasant outing, which I followed up by lazing around and doing actually nothing for the rest of the weekend. In other news, pretty much done with rereading Mr. Midshipman Hornblower!
Next Saturday is the Gunma-alt Sumo-seeing Expedition Extraordinaire! So I will report back in the future. XD
In other news, there's a hotspring town in the immediate area that was apparently one of the inspirations for Spirited Away. I went to check out Ikaho on Saturday with my friends J and V. It was pretty awesome! We caught the bus at about 10:30, and got up to the town at 11 something. There was a bit of confusion at first, but then we quickly found the Stone Stairs for which the town is famous. (Pretty sure that it's the town, instead of the bath, that was used in the movie, but who knows~)
First things first, we went to the archery story and did a little archery. Guys, I am still terrible at this game, but is just as much fun as it was that one time we did it in middle school! Sometimes I wish that there had been archery and rowing on offer at my schools.
Then we started walking up the hill, looking for the outdoor onsen that was somewhere at the top. None of us had been there before, so it was a case of the blind leading the blind, ie, I ended up taking us first to the shrine, and then halfway along a forest path to nowhere. (Which I don't regret, because hey! There was some snow on it. :DDDD) "Welcome to a Lizzie-adventure," I said to my companions, at which point they were like, "You're slightly bizarre~".
Then we walked back down the path, back to the shrine, down the shrine steps and then followed the sign around to the road that lead to the actual bath. About five or ten minutes of walking later, we found it. We knew we were on the right track because the stream turned orange! This was an actual hot spring, and not just a public bath, so it was full of sulphur. (f? ph? Aaaah-) It was really relaxing!
After we got out (just as eight million women came in and made it really difficult to get dressed again, since the changing area was not so large), we headed back down and got ourselves some delicious lunch. And then we left! This is because there were not many buses leaving that town, and in order to make my last bus from the train station, we had to leave Ikaho on the three o'clock bus. BE END.
All in all, it was a very pleasant outing, which I followed up by lazing around and doing actually nothing for the rest of the weekend. In other news, pretty much done with rereading Mr. Midshipman Hornblower!
Next Saturday is the Gunma-alt Sumo-seeing Expedition Extraordinaire! So I will report back in the future. XD