Hiking and then back on the Road

The sound of the river is roaring as I write today and the scenery is priceless. Most of the night I laid awake listening to the sound of the water rushing and anxiously awaiting to go and explore. It was so worth it! The hike was gorgeous. We wandered down along the river and up the mountain, only to come back down and go up the other side. There we followed a number of steep stairs, which let to an old shrine. On the way back we stopped to talk to an elderly gentleman who was in his yard and took a picture. Within a few minutes, he went in his home and came out with a beautiful bag of tangerines for us as a gift. The hospitality here is unbelievable! Everyone is so kind, polite and generous.


By 10:30 we were boarding the bus and headed back to Tokyo. We took a short detour to have lunch on the Tokyo Bay and enjoyed walking on the beach. Once back at the hotel, we saw all the other groups that were arriving back and enjoyed hearing how their week went. We unpacked and headed out to explore the city again. This time we went to “Electric City”, the area where all the newest “high tech” gadgets are found. We ended up eating ice cream at “@homecafe”. The waitresses were dressed as a popular animated character and we were told that the job was one desired by “all” young girls. Many envied them and it was hard to understand why. The space was so tiny and we sat at a counter facing the window. The menu consists of small deserts that looked like a brownie baked in an easy bake oven surrounded by some whip cream. When the desert was served you were asked to make the shape of a heart with your hands, repeat some Japanese words after the waitress and then she gave you the “magical super powers”. We couldn’t understand anything but instead just laughed along. I thought the place was a dive and couldn’t understand why it was so cool. Then we got the bill for our tiny deserts and it came out to about 65 dollars! It turns out we ended up paying about $10 for a cover charge!!! Unbelievable! We were given a silver members card as we left and found out we are now official members and can enter free next time! ☺