Tokyo/Nikko: Wednesday

So I dragged myself out of bed early today. Got some breakfast here at the hotel, then hauled my sleepy ass to the train station. Gotta love taking the bullet train around here. It's quiet and super fast!

So I got to Nikko around 11:30. First off, it was cold. At least I had thought to bring my scarf and gloves just in case. On top of that, at some point, it started to flurry! So needless to say, at times I felt a little cold. :p

I found the bus that would would drop you off by Shinkyo Bridge. From there it was all uphill. I think I climbed up a lot of stairs in Nikko today. First, I needed to go up to where the ticket booth was where you can get a combined ticket to see all of the shrines. However, admission to see the "Sleeping Cat" and Tokugawa Ieyasu's tomb was separate.

Some of the shrines that were part of this combined ticket:
- Rinnō-ji Temple
- Futarasan Shrine
- Taiyuin-byō
- Yakushi-dō Hall

Since this was the first time I was visiting Nikko, I took my time to wander around the shrines and temples and where ever else I could go. All the while, I was snapping pictures left, right and center. Yeah, I took an awful lot of photos. I don't think I will strain my iBook too much by trying to upload all of them. I've got extra memory cards in case I need them.

I think I only realized it later on that the Nikko National park "closes" at about 4PM around this time of year.I think by the time I had my fill of all that I could see, it was around 3:00PM. I started to make my way back. Along the way, I stopped by this little souvenir shop that also served some food. So I ordered myself a bowl of yuba soba. Well, that certainly warmed me up! Long enough to make the trek back to the train station.

Since my connectiong train in Utsunomiya was only at 18:32, I decided to just walk it. Now, mind you, it's only about 3:30PM. However, it seems that a lot of shops and businesses were already closed for the day. I know I was visiting Nikko in the off-season, but I didn't think there'd be so few people that the shops wouldn't be open. But then again, I didn't see too many people on the streets either. :p

So I got to the train station. The next train to Utsunomiya was at 16:43. That would get me in at around 17:30. So I'd still have to wait about an hour for the Shinkansen. :p Oh, on top of the that, the station was kinda cold. I ended up buying a bottle of warm tea and a rice ball (onigiri). I found a semi-heated waiting room on the platform and hunkered down to wait for the train.

While waiting for my train, a few Shinkansen passed through the station at full-speed. There are separate tracks for trains that just pass through. It's just amazing to see them fly by like that at such high speeds. I think they hit speeds in excess of 275 kph in any case, they're damn fast! Ohh! something of note. All Shinkansen cars are now non-smoking! :)

Just 2 more full days left in Tokyo. What to do?