Gotemba, Japan

Our 8 year anniversary was March 6th and Jeff was able to take the day off.  It started off kind of cloudy but turned out to be a beautiful, warm, sunny day. We headed to Gotemba, which is about an hour and half away by car.  First stop a Italian restaurant for lunch.  Very common in Japan is the pasta, pizza set.  Then since it was still a little cloudy we headed to the Gotemba outlet mall.  For people who like to shop, it is a wonderful place.  They have stores from the Gap to Prada.  It is set near the bottom of Mt. Fuji so the view is spectacular.  They also have many restaurants and a little playground for kids.  I bought Julia her first backpack so she is ready for hiking now.  Then we went to Gotemba Peace Park.  This was a very cool park with lots of monument, statues, paths set on beautiful grounds.  Here is a quote from the website "A nice park around "Nipponzan Myoho-ji" buddhist temple, with scenic view of Mt.Fuji and a number of interesting statues; of those, the ones of the sect's founder and of Kannon are especially interesting."  


Since it was a Tuesday, there were very few people there so Julia could run around and have fun.


It was a very good way to spend a Tuesday.


Mt Fuji in the clouds.

 Julia at the park at outlet mall

 Lego store at outlet mall. I think everyone needs to have this in their house.

 These guys are so scary.

 The path that lead to the temple above was lined with statues from different countries.
 India's statue

Okinama's statue

 Thailand's statue.  I liked this one the best, so much detail.

 Praying Buddha

 Statue of one of the monks

 Chillin in the park

 With only 6 weeks to go, we have to make the best of what time we have left and will hopefully be able to take a couple more weekend trips.  The cherry blossoms are starting to come out so that should make for some beautiful shots.