The train was packed with school children who were it appears on a school excursion. Lucky for us we got seats so we could just sit back and watch the kids.
When we arrived at the town we just walked down the stairs and followed the road to the boats and bought our tickets. The sun was just pushing its way through the clouds so we knew we would have sun while on the cruise which makes everything so much nicer.
We stood in the queue while the boat came in and when we eventually got to go onto the boat we realised we only had economy seats but I said to Alan why don't we pay the extra 600 yen (A$6.00) and go first class, so we did this. What a surprise as we walked upstairs we had a much bigger open air area to walk around in plus tables and chairs. It was certainly worth it.
As the boat pulled away dozens of sea gulls started to fly behind the boat and it seemed almost immediately some people had treats for them to eat so began a feast for the seagulls and lots of laughter for the rest of us.
The scenery was just beautiful and we spent approximately 1 hour travelling around the bay.
When we got off the boat we walked over to a relatively small temple that was on a small island - this was very nice. Once we had seen this we continued walking towards a very long red bridge which turned out to be the only toll pedestrian bridge I have ever crossed. Many people were in the water collecting oysters. Once we got onto the island one of the signs said this was a island with a natural garden, we would be more inclined to call it a bush garden but it was nice. We walked for some distance, Alan bought an ice-cream and then we walked off the island.
When we left the island Alan said he had a map of places to go so our next stop was the museum of wax for special men and women (one) in Japan I found these interesting and then we came to a second of a Shogun by the name of Date Masamune he was quite clearly an extrordinary man. Although he was born into a powerful family he live a very privileged life but unfortunately at the age of 5 he contacted smallpox and lost the sight of his right eye. This left him disfigured for life and in fact although he was the eldest son his mother then decided that she preferred her youngest son and this of course would have been just dreadful for a young boy. He was married at 13 to a girl by the name of Yoshi who was 11, not much is mentioned of her except there is a beautiful mauosuleme for her high on one of the hills in the town, it is stunning unfortunately no photos as they were banned! Alan is now regretting that he didn't sneak one.
We had lunch in a little cafe which was very nice and then continued walking towards another temple which ws nice and then headed for the station. We were lucky because a train had just pulled in and we caught it back to Sendai.
Another thing that I should mention about this Shogun in the fact that way back in the 1500's he employed the services of an engineer to do something with the river banks as the people in the town quite frequently lost their rice crops. This engineer (who is nameless) designed a levy bank to protect the rice and within one year the town had more rice than they needed and this was the beginning of an exceptional time of rice growing for the people so much so that the rice became known as the Sendai Rice.
Also noticed a sign in the town to beware os Tusami and earthquake and to run to higher grown, now this was a little unsettling and I kept one eye on the water just in case.
When we arrived back at Sendai we decided to go on the Sendai Loopy a bus that does a circle of the town, this was quite good and I had a Japanese lady sit next to me who chatted for most of the trip although I couldn't understand a thing she was very nice and even gave me a place mat (I think) anyway its lovely and i'll frame it when I get home as she purchased it at an exibition.
We had tea in a white and red restaurant, the meal was pasta plus coffee and tea, now this is not a critisim but I just don't think tea made from hot milk will ever take off but it was refreshing as I was thirsty.
We walked back to the hotel and then worked out what we will be doing tomorrow.
Back to Tokyo.
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