Nikko Trip 2009

Our Nikko trip was a last minute weekend away. We got into town early Saturday morning, and first thing took a bus up the local mountain to see Lake Chuzenji and the Kogen Falls. The leaves were already past their prime up on the mountain.

Kogen Falls is pretty amazing - it is like a river seeping through the cliff. There isn't just one "fall" but lots of little streams running out over and through the cliff wall.

Lake Chuzenji

Street food in Chuzenji - they are little lake trout, skewered whole and roasted around a wood fire. We didn't buy any here, but had one at dinner Saturday night and they are really good!

Saturday afternoon we took the bus back down to Nikko. Nikko is known for a group of six or seven shrines that are named a World Heritage Site.

As luck would have it, the weekend we were in Nikko they had a special weekend where they lit up the shrines after dark. It was great for photography!

Shinkyo Bridge

This is the Shinkyo bridge the next day - just gorgeous.

One Nikko shrine depicts the original image of the "Three Monkeys."

The shrines in Nikko are particularly ornate and colorful - probably because of Chinese influence (I learned that on Wikipedia).

All in all we had a great weekend - caught the leaves at their peak and had great weather. Thank goodness we made another attempt at Nikko!