May 20th, the details

We were up early again - 5ish. Breakfast was served at 7 - chicken burger, spaghetti, salad, half a banana, yogurt and soup. Cost $5.
We headed back to the Kawaguchi station to catch the 8:45 bus up to Station 5 on Mt. Fuji. At first we thought we were making a terrible mistake because all the Japanese people were in line for the bus to the Springtime Fuji Moss Phlox Festival.  Maybe they knew something that we didn;t know. But then we decided that it was a good thing that we were headed in the opposite direction of the crowds. There were only a handful of us on the bus and it was the first bus of the day so we thought we would be the only ones at the 5th station. Wrong! We counted 36 tour buses in the parking lot. Unfortunately, the nice views of the alps and the valley that we saw from the bus on the way up were obscured by clouds at the top. We did have nice views of the summit though and the smell of the trees was heavenly. There's a shrine, tourist information and shops at the top but not much else so after we had our fill we headed back down. On the way down we saw lots cyclists heading up.
Back at the Kawaguchiko station we tried a few more bank machines, had no luck, gave up and had a smoothie instead. We had lunch at the station, I think Heidi said "This is really good" at least three times during the meal (Hoto Noodles).
They have tourist buses that go around to all the tourists spots around the lake so we caught the green line to the Bat caves. I checked first, there aren't bats there any more. At the 5th station we learned that these caves were formed from the lava flows when Mt. Fuji was still an active volcano. Some of the sections were very very tight and there was no way to even duck walk through so we explored the more accessible areas of the cave.
Somehow we lucked out and were in the cave by ourselves. Just as we were heading out a gaggle of school kids were heading in! They tease each other and dare each other to say "Hello" to us.
Back on the green line. Next stop we opted for was Iyashi no Sato. This is a small village of thatched roof houses that has been turned into a museum, a bit like upper canada village. There were lots of shops and galleries and you were supposed to be able to try some of the crafts (making paper, charcoal, noodles etc) but we only saw a place for kids to paint pottery. It was hot and we were getting tired so we had ice cream and headed back for the bus.
We ran into another gaggle of school kids on a class outing. Hello, Hello, Hello.
Last stop of the day was the  Kachi Kachi Ropeway aka cable car up Mount Tenjo to an observation deck that is supposed to give panoramic views of the Lake and Mount Fuji. First I must point out that we just missed a cable car and it was packed full. We were so hot, I was dreading the ride up. But our cable car came and no one else came so we had it to ourselves! I will also explain that we purposely opted to leave the cable car for the end of the day based on yesterday's weather patterns where the best views of Mt Fuji were in the evening. This backfired on us today. Mind you we had gorgeous views of it all day so I can't really complain and the views of the lake were spectacular but Mt. Fuji was not to be seen. The photos of the rabbits are because the Mountain is where a famous Japanese folk story was based.
We decided to hang out for a bit to see if Mt. Fuji would make an appearance but we were also tired and hungry so we bought some dumplings. This time, Heidi did not say "This is really good". The best I can describe it as is a tasteless doughy blob dipped in something that tasted close to Dutch Stroop.
We headed back to the hotel with a detour to the 7/11 because they are supposed to carry ATMs that accept international cards. No luck on the cash but we scored supper and snacks for the next day.
Of course, once at the hotel, Mt. Fuji had come out from hiding just to tease us.