11:44:33 Just after getting off the train at Takaosan Guchi ("entrance to Takaosan") we thought we ought to set ourselves up for the walk ahead with an early lunch...
11:44:50 ...and of course some beer. Shocking behaviour - not even midday!
11:51:09 The view from the window of the place we had lunch.
12:10:01 Chie and me in front of the cable car / chair lift station.
12:15:20 We went by chair lift on the way up - Chie and I in one, and Hide following behind.
12:15:31 The chair lift ride was really fun!
12:15:45 Apaprently if you dropped anything along the way you were supposed to note the number of the nearest pole...
12:16:08 I think you can see how much we were enjoying it here.
12:16:36 There's Hide, still behind us.
12:16:48 Lovely autumnal trees lined the route, although they didn't come out that well in the pictures.
12:18:43 A slightly scary bit, where we were actually going above the tree canopy somehow.
12:19:32 It was quite a long ride!
12:19:45 More trees really.
12:20:12 Again this is a bit where there is a sort of net suspended above a ravine...
12:21:10 Getting near the top now...(?)
12:21:33 Here we are again.
12:22:23 Nice views to be had, although as always in Japan it was a bit hazy.
12:22:40 Errr... cables and stuff.
12:25:25 More of the same.
12:26:02 Just before the top - a helpful sign telling you how to get off.
12:26:39 ...and we're at the top - a handy conveyor belt assists getting off the chair lift.
12:28:33 I like signs with monkeys on!
12:31:38 One of the viewing points up at the top... as before a bit too hazy to really see anything...
12:31:51 ...I guess that is some part of Tokyo amidst the haze there.
12:36:30 The octopus tree - thus named for its tentacle like roots.
12:53:14 As always with this sort of place in Japan, many shrines lined the way.
12:53:52 A statue.
12:54:01 A close-up on this rather larged nosed statue.
12:54:53 Another hazy view.
12:57:01 Hide and Chie on the steps.
12:57:20 Me and Chie on the steps.
12:58:40 Another shrine thing.
13:02:35 Another strangely nosed statue.
13:03:03 I guess this is the same chap as earlier, either that or big noses are popular in these parts.
13:04:13 A rather nice three dimensional mural - possibly the 3D effect is somewhat lost in this picture.
13:19:23 More hazy views.
13:19:43 Chie and Hide with some nice autumnal trees behind.
13:20:02 Me and Chie.
13:27:44 One of today's highlights was finding a shop at the top selling "one cup atsukan" - hot sake, in other words. Lovely.
13:30:40 On a chilly late autumn / early winter day this was much appreciated!
13:59:39 We went for a walk along one of the trails after our sake, which took us away from all the people, through some really nice woods...
14:04:08 Lovely trees!
14:08:43 More trees...
14:10:45 ...and more...
14:10:54 ...and more!
14:13:36 Oh and a bridge.
14:29:49 I encountered two eskimoes along the way.
14:32:22 A view through the trees out towards some kind of civilisation.
14:32:29 The end of a tree.
14:32:35 More trees generally.
14:48:44 Chie and Hide eating dango...
14:54:13 On the way back down we took the "cable car" (rack railway?) rather than the chair lift. Definitely the chair lift was the more fun option.
14:54:23 It carried a useful warning sign about the possibility of giant monkeys riding atop the train.
14:56:29 Inside the cable car.
14:58:24 Another cable car passing the other way.
14:59:06 Back up the track - apparently the steepest in Japan, I think I heard them say.
18:13:01 Later on that day, back in the centre of Tokyo, dinner in the very cheap Italian "famiresu" near mine and Chie's temporary flat.
18:18:09 Mmmm cheap spaghetti and cheap red wine!
18:18:18 Despite being hideuously cheap, the spaghetti here is actually rather nice.
18:18:39 A blurry picture of me and Chie.
18:18:55 A less blurred version.
18:19:51 The pizza is also pretty good - and also rediculously cheap.
18:42:50 The end of the meal - we'd eaten quite a lot.
18:56:07 This was mine and Chie's third visit to this place so we got a free plate!