Japan - Day 9 - Nikko

Today we headed to Nikko. Nikko is a city in the mountains about a two hours car ride outside of Tokyo. Lee hired a private driver for the day to take us to Nikko and show us around. The mountains in Japan are absolutely stunning, so lush and green. If you've ever seen Studio Ghibli's My Neighbor Totoro, it's like a scene out of that movie. We first started out with a gondola ride, they call them ropeways here, up the mountain to a scenic viewing spot. Then we drove to a beautiful mountain lake called Lake Chezenji. It was a stunning photo opportunity. We also learned that the 2023 G7 summit was in Nikko. After Lake Chezenji our driver took us to a scenic river with a waterfall, where we walked across a couple of very old wooden bridges to see some gorgeous natural sights. Once we were done with the river, our driver took us to another river spot in the Nikko National Park that had some beautiful waterfalls. Nico loved being in "his" park. When we were done taking in the wonderful scenes at the park, we headed off to the Imperial Summer Villa, where the imperial family used to summer. It was a very large traditional Japanese house, which part of the building was built in the Edo period. Our final stop before heading back to Tokyo we stopped to see an ancient bridge and Rinnoji Temple up in the mountains. Nico and I stayed back in the town and got a bite to eat. Then we headed back to Tokyo, where we got a bite to eat in the "basement" of our hotel, an arcade of shops and restaurants connected to the subway. Finally Lee and I went out to a liquor store in Ginza where we got some gifts for friends. After that we got a drink in the hotel bar and headed to bed. Such an amazing day here in Japan!