We all enjoyed a very restful and peaceful sleep in our tatami rooms, arising for a leisurely 9 am breakfast. After breakfast, we took the tour bus back to Hakone station and caught the shinkansen to Kyoto.
The train trip lasted two hours and we arrived at our hotel around 2 pm. We again split into small groups to explore the local area.
Ms. Gracia’s group of Year 7 boys plus Alex and Tom visited a shrine and then found a park to play in. They attracted some attention from the locals as they ran off their energy playing games. Some locals followed the group through a 7-11 shop to get a closer look at the foreigners.
Ms. Tebbutt’s group of Anthony, Sam and the girls had a wonderful afternoon looking around a second shrine and some back alleys. Sam saw a carp that was almost a metre long! They found cute little passageways with hidden shops and traditional houses and restaurants. They discovered a wonderful hole-in-the-wall restaurant for dinner. The old couple running it had been there for over fifty years!
Mr. O’Brien and the Year 8 boys wandered through back alleyways, gathering footage for the group video.
After dinner, the group had a party in one of the hotel rooms. Even though no one could read the wrappers, we brought Japanese lollies to share around. Everyone dressed in their hotel robes, enjoyed some lollies and played a game of Ms. Gracia’s called Mafia. Normally it takes three or four games of Mafia to figure it out, but Natalia mastered the game on her second go!
We went to bed in high spirits, looking forward to our day of exploration ahead.
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