(no subject)
Ok, so I promised an update after Fuji.
After we gimped back to the fifth station, we changed into some dry clothes and hauled our carcasses back to the bus and the lovely Fuji-View hotel, which is everything that Fuji is not. The anti-Fuji.
No rain. No snow.
Cheerful staff.
Tasty food.
Warm beds.
On-site masseuse.
The staff was a little puzzled when we asked if they had laundry service, until we explained we were on Fuji and showed them our shopping bags of wet, festering clothes. They promptly showed us the washing machine downstairs. We had to do the wash ourselves, but hey-- free laundry. Even if we did have to use the Japanese dryer that doesn't actually "dry".
(Three hours to dry some jeans and tshirts. Coleman says this is common. Ok. I think it's a conspiracy to force people to save energy by just hanging things outside.)
Once our stuff was in the wash, we crashed out on the futons in our room. Futon has never felt so good. We oozed out of bed later to check on the laundry (still wet) and walk around the hotel. It seems that this particular hotel has been around since the war-- there were pictures of American GIs and their wives in the observation booth.
We checked on our laundry again (still wet) and went to go eat dinner. The hotel had a fancy restaurant attached, so since we cheaped out on our other accomodations, this was a good chance to live it up a little. Sort of.
After dinner, we went to the masseuse who rubbed some feeling back into our feets, and soaked in the onsen (hot spring) for a while. I also sat in the sauna until I was pretty sure I'd roasted all traces of pnuemonia out of my lungs. My legs almost didn't hurt afterward. :)
Bonus... we couldn't see Fuji from the Fuji-View hotel. Which was just fine with us.
I'm running out of time at the internet cafe, but we went to Osaka and Hiroshima next. The photos are here, but I haven't been able to caption them all yet. Getting to it...
Thanks for all the birthday wishes. :) I spent the day at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, and then had okonomiyaki and sang karaoke with Mika and her friends. Hope everyone had a good Fourth and hope you all still have all your fingers.
After we gimped back to the fifth station, we changed into some dry clothes and hauled our carcasses back to the bus and the lovely Fuji-View hotel, which is everything that Fuji is not. The anti-Fuji.
No rain. No snow.
Cheerful staff.
Tasty food.
Warm beds.
On-site masseuse.
The staff was a little puzzled when we asked if they had laundry service, until we explained we were on Fuji and showed them our shopping bags of wet, festering clothes. They promptly showed us the washing machine downstairs. We had to do the wash ourselves, but hey-- free laundry. Even if we did have to use the Japanese dryer that doesn't actually "dry".
(Three hours to dry some jeans and tshirts. Coleman says this is common. Ok. I think it's a conspiracy to force people to save energy by just hanging things outside.)
Once our stuff was in the wash, we crashed out on the futons in our room. Futon has never felt so good. We oozed out of bed later to check on the laundry (still wet) and walk around the hotel. It seems that this particular hotel has been around since the war-- there were pictures of American GIs and their wives in the observation booth.
We checked on our laundry again (still wet) and went to go eat dinner. The hotel had a fancy restaurant attached, so since we cheaped out on our other accomodations, this was a good chance to live it up a little. Sort of.
After dinner, we went to the masseuse who rubbed some feeling back into our feets, and soaked in the onsen (hot spring) for a while. I also sat in the sauna until I was pretty sure I'd roasted all traces of pnuemonia out of my lungs. My legs almost didn't hurt afterward. :)
Bonus... we couldn't see Fuji from the Fuji-View hotel. Which was just fine with us.
I'm running out of time at the internet cafe, but we went to Osaka and Hiroshima next. The photos are here, but I haven't been able to caption them all yet. Getting to it...
Thanks for all the birthday wishes. :) I spent the day at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, and then had okonomiyaki and sang karaoke with Mika and her friends. Hope everyone had a good Fourth and hope you all still have all your fingers.