Nikko Day 1 - Of Trains, Temples and Shrines

Today we travelled from Matsushima to Nikko by train. Most of our travel so far has been by train and it really has been an excellent experience all said. Trains are there when they are supposed to be, leave when they are scheduled to and arrive exactly at the time described on the ticket. Exactly... as in down to the precise minute. It is really rather amazing and turns planning your train travel into an exact science.

Our shortest time between transfers of Shinkansen (bullet trains) has been 12 minutes, which when you take into account it is a 2 hour journey beforehand, is not something you would normally risk. However we arrived exactly on time, changed platform and found our train within 5 minutes. Leaving us 7 minutes to relax before the new train left at the precise time it was scheduled to.

You know, a person could get used to that sort of thing. Mind you, thinking back to the last time I saw the Jubilee line with “Stanmore - 1 minute” for over 15 minutes, it is better I keep my expectations low.

So once we arrived in Nikko (exactly on time) we dropped our bags off at the hotel. This hotel is rather interestingly named “Senhime Monogatari” or “Thousand Princess Stories”. Not sure if I’m reading that wrong or not...

Anyway! We popped over the road (quite literally) to the “Nikko Sennai” or more colloquially, Nikko shrine and temple area, which is nestled in Nikko National Park. While it is a little crowded with screaming school kids and tired tourists, it is absolutely worth the visit. Each of the main temples and shrines have their own architecture and feel to them. I took a fair number of photos here as a result. As usual, I’ve created a photo set that you can view here.

Tomorrow we are doing Lake Chuzenji, Kegon Falls, Chanokidaira Plateau and (time pending) Ryuzu Falls. Assuming we don’t get lost and get eaten by a bear, it should be a fantastic day.