Overnight in Izu - Day 1

Sometimes you need to get away from it all. A quick overnight trip is just what the doctor ordered for a bit of a mental health boost. Luckily in Japan there's a lot of quick getaways just a short train trip away. Living in Tokyo, there are a lot of options. Since my husband's family has a timeshare, we often let their locations dictate where we go. 

Izu is a small town about 2 hours south of Shinjuku station in Tokyo. It looked like a great place to get away for a night without too much hassle.  When we left this morning, I assumed we would be riding the Shinkansen to get from point A to point B, but we rode the Super View Odoriko.  The train is built for sightseeing with huge windows, comfortable seats, and a kids playroom. The staff sell goodies like ice cream to passengers. It is an experience all in itself.

Since we left from Shinjuku, we were able to pick up snacks at the train station. My son gets really excited about eating bentos, so we almost always get him one.  That way he doesn't become ravenous on the train and get grumpy before we even arrive at our destination. At most of the Shinkansen stations they have special kids bentos that come in cute train containers!  He picked a basic bento with onigiri, karaage, and other small bites, packed inside a Shinkansen train box.  As soon as we boarded he was ready to dig in.  

I love watching the towns go by and the landscape transition from city to suburbs to countryside as we chug along the tracks. Traveling by train is always so much more relaxing than in a car!  The fact that my son can get up and go play in a playroom is a huge bonus.  

We took the train one stop further than we needed on purpose, so we could go to Atagawa Tropical & Alligator Garden (in Japanese it's actually the Atagawa Banana & Alligator Garden, which cracks me up).  This unusual botanical garden/zoo is a sight to behold. The attraction is broken up into 3 facilities, each with different features.  

The first is mainly garden focused.  There is a "course" to follow up and down 4 stories of greenhouses on a hillside. I saw so many flowers today that I've never seen before. I was most impressed with the water lily garden.  I had no clue there were so many colorful water lily flowers.  As with every zoo I've encountered here, I was very sad to see a manatee in a super tiny tank.  I've come to the conclusion that Japanese people live in tiny homes and therefore don't understand the concept of animals living in wide open spaces.  At any rate, the gardens were super impressive.

The second facility, found across the street from the first, was the alligator zoo.  My, oh my. There's not much for me to say since the big gators really freak me out.  My son thought it was great and really liked seeing them up close. 

A shuttle bus took us up the steep hill aways to the third and final facility. This one focused on edible plants as well as a few animals. I really enjoyed the gardens in the first facility, but I was blown away by them here. The banana trees were so fascinating and there were so many things to look at.  I was enthralled.  My husband and son had to keep waiting for me because I was so slow!  I should have let them go ahead to the lesser pandas, crocodiles, flamingos, and tortoises while I dawdled in the plants.   I barely took any photos because I was just living in the moment and enjoying seeing everything.

At the end of the third facility, there is a cafe that has many offerings with things grown on sight. We enjoyed a fruit bowl and banana milk (basically a banana blended with milk with a little bit of vanilla). Both were delightful and the perfect pick me up after wandering around for several hours.  The bananas were amazing!

Oh, and by the way, there are stairs everywhere here!  As I walked around today, I kept thinking about how the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) would have a field day with doling out violatin notices here because it is not at all wheelchair friendly (and rightly so, in my opinion).  There was only 1 elevator in the whole facility that I saw and it led to more stairs!  While I appreciated the exercise, I couldn't stop thinking about all the people that would never be able to go here due to lack of mobility. 

After a couple hours at the garden/zoo, we headed to our timeshare to relax, eat too much food (more about the amazing cuisine in another post), soak in the onsen, and sleep. It's been a lovely day getting away from the stresses of everyday life. Now, I'm sitting on tatami, writing, and looking out at a beautiful moon reflecting on the ocean. And I'm feeling incredibly grateful to be right here, right now.  Japan still holds a lot of treasures yet to be discovered, one excursion at a time.