DAY 6
We're heading to
Mt Gozaisho today, the nearest summit to Nagoya, just 1 hour away by bus.
Things to do before going:
- Check the bus timings at the Meitetsu Bus Centre at Nagoya Station if you happened to pass by like we did. This helps you plan your day as there are only 1 or 2 buses (usually early in the morning) from Nagoya Station to Mt Gozaisho.
- Check the weather forecast and ropeway opening schedule at their website. The ropeway may be closed due to bad weather.
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Clockwise from left: The brochure you can take from the Bus Center which tells you the timing of the bus and routes;
Follow the signs to Meitetsu Bus Center;
Take the Mei Kotsu bus from Berth 2. |
The simplest way to Mt Gozaisho is via the
Mie Kotsu Bus from Meitetsu Bus Center.
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Left: Cost us ¥1430 per adult and ¥720 per child (one way);
Right: Waiting to board our bus at 8.45am at Berth 2. |
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In the bus and on our way!
The display panel will show you various languages including English |
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| Getting off our bus |
The journey to
Mt Gozaisho took approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour. We could see the
Gozaisho Ropeway very clearly on arrival. The kids and I were so excited! 😃
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Gozaisho Ropeway photo opportunity!
We look so cute right?! |
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| View of Gozaisho Ropeway |
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Left: Weather information provided at base so that you can buy additional winter wear from the shop if you need it;
Right: The Base Station. |
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Cost of our round trip tickets
(some Japanese buy 1-way tickets because they either hike up or hike down the mountain) |
Kids and I love riding cable cars so we were really excited!
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| More information on our ride and our cable car |
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| Super excited kids! |
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Left: There're glass panels on the floor for more viewing! So fun!;
Right: View of the mountains as the ropeway climbs up. |
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| Almost to the Summit Station, which is about 1180m above sea level |
As stated by the information board at the base station, the temperature at the summit was 1°C. Make sure to wear/bring an extra sweater, gloves, winter hat and extra warm leggings!
We started by exploring the
Choyodai Observatory, where you can take in views of Nagoya!
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| We are here at the summit of Mt Gozaisho, 1212m above sea level! |
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| Super lovely weather for photos with the amazing view! |
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| It's the view that makes coming here so worthwhile for us! |
In case you're wondering about my baby's super unique leg warmers, well the story is: This mummy wanted to save money and didn't buy brand new leg warmers that baby's only going to wear for the few hours of this trip and never going to wear ever again. However, it was so cold at the summit that the baby's legs started to freeze. I came up with the idea of wrapping both of our identical Gryffindor scarfs around her legs and my mum, who's a nurse, decided to put her bandaging skills into action. She did such an amazing job!
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| DIY leg warmers! |
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| At one of the lookouts where you can take in the view of the ropeway and Summit Station from the mountain |
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| The older kids with the great view of the city |
As we were hungry, we decided to grab an early lunch at
Restaurant Nature before the place got crowded. There were 2 restaurants at the summit and the prices were affordable.
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| Nature Restaurant |
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| One of the set meals |
After lunch, the kids begged us for ice cream! It is kinda a tradition for the Hubby and I to eat ice cream at the summit of mountains!
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| Enjoying our yummy ice cream! |
As were eating our ice cream, we noticed that there were kids playing with snow just below Restaurant Nature! We quickly made our way down to check it out!
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| On the way we spotted these ski lifts, which only allowed one person to ride at a time and did not have any safety belts hence the kids could not ride it. I was really disappointed that I couldn't ride it to explore the other side of the mountain, which was where the ski slopes will be during winter. |
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| Walking down the road to the snow |
The snow was outside the
Gozaisho Nature School and Ski Rental Shop, which was currently closed but would be open during the upcoming winter season in a few weeks.
Although it wasn't a lot of snow, we were still so happy to see it! I was especially happy for my boy, as this was his first time playing with snow!
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| During winter the entire area will be covered in snow for skiing and snow tubing! |
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| All we needed was a piece of cardboard to slide down! |
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| Attempting to make a snowman ☃️ or have a snow ball fight! |
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| Love these snow-covered trees! Perfect photo opportunity! |
You can't really tell but it felt colder than 1°C, especially when the wind blew! My mum decided that she preferred the warmth of the indoors and volunteered to look after the baby while the rest of us hiked for 10 minutes to
Fujimi-iwa Observatory.
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| The Fujimi-iwa Observatory |
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| It was a pretty easy hike even for kids |
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| That mountain in the middle is Fuji San |
We were very lucky that the weather was good enough to offer us a great view of
Mt Fuji! It's beautiful views that draw us to explore mountains! Don't get me wrong, we are in no way outdoorsy or hiking types. We are contented to explore mountains that come fully equipped with ropeways!
*laughs* 😂
It was super fun but it was also time for us to go back. There were only 2 buses that return to Nagoya Station and we needed to make sure we caught the bus at Base Station.
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| Heading back down the mountain and enjoying the beautiful sights along the way |
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| Queue up at this board that had the words "Nagoya" in Japanese to board the Mie Kotsu bus back to Nagoya Station |
It was almost sunset by the time we arrived at Nagoya Station. We decided to have dinner here before heading back.
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| Nagoya Station |
We chose
Sumibi Yakiniku Sugimoto based on a gut feeling and the good cut of beef they featured on their menu.
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| Sumibi Yakiniku Sugimoto |
We were not disappointed!
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| We ordered their set meal and some ala carte beef to cook over charcoal. Look at how beautiful the texture of the beef was! |
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| This is one of their premium cuts with just the right balance of fat and meat. So tender with every bite! 😋 |
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| The set meal also came with some sides |
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| Cooking our beef over charcoal |
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| We also ordered mushrooms, which were so good as well! |
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| This drawing was done while waiting for our food to be ready. She had such a memorable day at Mt Gozaisho that she needed to capture it in a picture! |
It was late by the time we finished dinner so we headed back to our hotel via the subway train.
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| Heading back with the weekday office crowd |
It was good to be back in our hotel and soaking in the onsen after a long day out!
Shiawase!
DAY 7
Knowing that we were bringing 3 kids with us including a baby, we added an additional day where we didn't do much so that we can rest.
As usual we woke early to enjoy the sumptuous breakfast that we have been so accustomed to every morning. What a feast!
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| I'm so going to miss this when we leave Japan! |
We headed to
Sakae Mitsukoshi after breakfast to start our day of shopping.
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| Sakae Mitsukoshi |
Mitsukoshi in general is very
atas (high class) but the best thing about this place is the huge and well-equipped nursing room!
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| Rest area, microwave, water dispenser, reading corner and even a weighing machine! |
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| Changing tables and high chairs |
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| Ample waiting space and very spacious nursing rooms |
I really enjoyed nursing the baby in this nursing room!
We did a little bit of shopping (not a lot as the things were really expensive) and headed to Ichiran for lunch. We went back to the same Ichiran
we visited on our first day of the trip (the one that's on the same road as our hotel) because it was not crowded at all!
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| Ichiran Sakae |
My boy has been begging to go back since the first time he tried it and we decided to fulfill his wish. He was so excited!
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| Sneaked a photo of how it looks on the inside 😄 |
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| My yummy ichiran ramen with extra toppings! 😋 |
We did more shopping after lunch and had dinner at Kei-Chan, a restaurant we just randomly stumbled across.
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The restaurant spans over 2 floors.
We were seated at the second floor. |
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| Kei-Chan English menu |
We ordered their speciality set, which is a local delicacy in the area. It comes with your own personal chef!
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| Cooked fresh in front of you! |
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Left: Hubby was craving sashimi;
Pig taro grilled skewers was really fatty but it was an absolute hit with my boy! Who knew? 😄;
Pasta for my girl. |
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| We ended the meal with cake 😋 |
It was a great last meal at Sakae as we will be heading to Legoland tomorrow. We also enjoyed our last night of free ramen at our hotel.
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| Best free ramen ever! 😄 |
If you did not want to waste a day, you can consider visiting
TOYOTA Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology.
We were happy to take a chill pill and recharge for the theme parks tomorrow! As a mega theme park lover, I can't wait! ❤️
Continue to >> Nagoya Day 8: SCMAGLEV Railway Park & Legoland Japan Hotel
<< Back to Nagoya Day 4-5: Port of Nagoya Aquarium & Osu in the Day
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as well as other travel itineraries!
