Today, we went to Lake Toya, which is the 4th largest lake in Japan and was made by a caldera. In the middle of the lake are 4 islands that were the top of the volcano before it exploded.
By the way, a lot of the toilet seats are heated. And so are the subway seats. And the hand rails to the escalators. Just so you know. I love it!
But I digress. Lake Toya was a beautiful lake made even more beautiful because we were the only ones in the town besides 1 tour bus of Japanese vacationers. We decided to take a boatride to the center islands on a boat that looked like the Disney castle. Awesome! At the very start of our enchanted boatride, we bought some crackers and joined the flurry of people feeding the gulls following along for the ride. Those birds were like dive-bombers!
The islands were even more pretty in their winter wear up close. We were happily surprised to see some uncommon ezo deer on one of the islands. We were also happily surprised when we asked a couple to take a picture of us and they replied, "We are Korean." They took a great pic, we said, "thank you" in Korean, we all smiled, bowed, and well, that was the extent of what we could communicate.
We were pretty cold after the subzero temperatures on the boat, and were grateful for all the geothermic activity in the area. All throughout town, there are hot spring foot baths and hand stations to soak and warm up. After the boatride, we raced to the lakefront footbath, popped off our shoes and didn't move for a long time while our feet defrosted. After that, we went on a scavenger hunt to find the others!
A good day that was finished by visiting some snow covered toriis while we waited for the train. I like this place.
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