Day Six - To Hakone

Today was Tuesday and we prepared to say goodbye to our Super Hotel Shinjuku in the morning. It was adequate, but only just. One could not swing a cat in our bedroom, not that we had a cat to swing. We did enjoy some delicious sushi for dinner at a great little restaurant several times. Just around the corner was a Pachinko Parlour where the Japanese love to play pinball games with ringing bells and golden tokens sold for cash or prizes at nearby exchange centers. Gambling is illegal in Japan but pachinko is regarded as an amusement activity.
We set out to find the Shinkansen - Bullet Train - for Odawara Station,

which is the nearest to Hakone where we were spending a few nights in a Japanese style inn. We were quite excited about boarding the shinkansen as we had first class Green tickets - first time for Lesley - usually she only ever went economy class. We saw a queued line of carriage car cleaners dressed neatly in their pink uniforms ready to board for a quick clean-up before the passengers boarded. The train timetable flashed up Japanese language, then English, so it was easier for foreigners to confirm their travel.
We enjoyed our twenty minute journey - wished it was longer - but knew there would be more to come. Our Green Car was very spacious and had very few takers and we saw that several people were asked by the conductor to vacate some seats as they did not have reserved seats. They seemed annoyed at this. They had the Green Car ticket but not the reservation ticket. Both are mandatory, we knew, even if there are many seats available.
At Odawara, we wandered around with backpacks only. Our suitcases were sent on from the Super Hotel. We found a little cafe which appeared to be in the western style. Coffee was served in china cups and saucers with a strange scientific looking apparatus to pour from.
Later we caught the Hakone Tozan train up the mountain to take us to the nearest stop to our Japanese inn. Beautiful scenery.
On our way to our hotel, we stopped off at the famous Hakone Open-Air Museum which has a sculpture garden, a

Picasso Pavilion, a children's artistic play area, a carp-filled pond and overhanging pedestrian bridge and acres of manicured sloping green lawns. It was cold outside. The sky was threatening rain with looming grey clouds overhead and mist on the mountains, so it was a surreal experience for us as we wandered among the artworks in the sculpture garden.
Some of the artworks were fun and engaging, for example, the glass box where one looked like one was imprisoned. Then a stairway underground to take you to an escape route. Lesley did not try that claustrophobic avenue to get out.
We came upon a hot spring foot bath where people could stop, take off shoes and socks, sit down and dip their feet in the warm water. Only 100 yen for a towel to dry off.
After this wonderful journey, we boarded the cog train again to reach the station of Hakone, and took a bus to our hotel. An old style Japanese inn was what we found, perched on a hillside with a gushing stream below on one side.