Muroran, Japan

Well, our land assault has started. It was another beautiful day with sun and the temperature nudging
over 60 degrees. We ate breakfast outside for the first time in two weeks. The breakfast buffet where
we eat almost all our breakfasts has an outdoor seating area which has been closed off because of wind,
rain, and possibly temperature since the second day of our cruise. 



When we did our around-the-world cruise we ate outside almost every day regardless of temp. This ship seems to be a little less excited about serving outside when it is “cold”. Anyway, it was nice to eat outdoors again.

The sail-in this morning was spectacular. For some reason I don’t think of Japan as volcanic islands with amazing topography, but I should. They are beautiful, filled with color, and very mountainous. Landing was a bit later than usual with our arrival set for 11:00. We cruised under another spectacular bridge to get to this harbor. With the way clocks are set it is getting light at 5:00 AM and pitch dark by 5:00 PM. We decided to play some bridge after breakfast with the bridge hosts on the ship, Skip and Carolyn. They will only be with the ship a couple more days as their portion of the trip ends in Tokyo.

We had a tour scheduled for the afternoon. We took a lovely drive through the countryside to visit a
museum and a sword maker. The sword maker apprenticed for 13 years with no pay to become a
master sword maker using the old techniques. He studies under a master but at this time there is no
one to follow him. Working in his smithy with open fire reminded me of an old-time blacksmith as he
hammered away on the red-hot metal. The swords are made to order, take about 10 months of hand
work, sell for about 1.5 million yen or approximately $10,000 US and are essentially purchased as works of art. The museum featured a full suit of Samurai armor. Not much English in the museum so we didn’t learn much.




The second stop on the tour was to Mt. Usu. This is a volcanically active mountain area with a cable car
to take people up the mountain about 100 at a time. It takes 6 minutes to go from bottom to top or vice
versa. As with mountains in general it is cooler at the top. We were warm at the bottom and a bit chilly
at the top. Beautiful views of the cauldron lake and the lava dome which became its own mini-mountain
from 1943-1945. 140 steps up to the top viewing platform to see the ocean. Truly a beautiful place and
a beautiful day.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

 Hello Friends,   We are busily preparing for our departure.  Four bags are shipped to our stateroom on board our ship Insignia and they leave on Thursday the 9th.  Jen has been working at this for months and as you can see from the picture we still have a ways to go.  Today I spent over an hour with the 7 page long Indian electronic visa application with little success.  I'll try again tomorrow.  We leave Le Claire for Miami on the 15th of this month.  We are excited to share our journey with you.  Thanks to our niece Nicole who has set this up to be shared in a way that is totally unique to the internet and computer age.  This first post is mostly about doing a trial run to make sure things are working and that we have some idea of what we are doing.   Wish us luck.
Read more

Melbourne, Australia

Image
 It’s MELbuhn to all who pronounce it correctly, and this second-largest city on the continent is modern, exciting, popular and in total competition with Sydney in every imaginable sport and topic and population. We were here on Sunday and Monday, it’s already summer break for schools AND the holidays, so the streets, trams, and popular spots to view Christmas window decorations were bustling or had long lines of excited young families. Oh, and it is repeatedly voted one of the top 10 Most Live- able Cities in the World. We can now see why. Sunday, we had a tour, so our bus took us into the fray. After driving through the restored financial district, the sporting complexes, and art communities, after gawking at the wide streets that are manicured and tree-lined, after enjoying a snarky guide, we visited their main historical museum. I told a nearby docent that it’s the BEST museum I’ve seen in any around the world. She had tears. We had time only to visit the First People exhibit and t
Read more

Broome, Australia

Image
 Day 61 Broome, Australia On Google Earth, you’ll see that it is a straight shot across the Indian Ocean from Bali to the NW coast of  Australia to the small-ish town of Broome, population of almost 15,000. Believe it or not, Broome shares a history with Muscatine, IA: making buttons from shells. Beginning in the 1880s, the town gained fame by sending helmeted people into ocean depths, tethered only by a hose for oxygen and a rope for signaling when oxygen is needed. Nobody knew about “the bends” back then nor how to decompress, so there are existing cemeteries in Broome for the many Japanese and Chinese who gave their lives for the industry. Pearls were a side-effect until it was discovered that they, too, could be lucrative. Now there is a thriving cultured pearl industry here. Yes, there is a tourist emphasis here but not just pearls. Cable Beach is well known by serious beach enthusiasts. Named for an undersea telegraph cable laid between Australia and Indonesia in 1889, the beach
Read more