25 February 2017
We had few hours to spare and decided to potter around, pavement cycling the waterfront in order to view the volcano which we were able to do with our feet in a public hot spring foot-bath. Then a visit to the small but very impressive modern art collection at the city museum. There were works from Matisse, Picasso, Dufy, Derain, Warhol, Kandinsky and other 20th-century European artists. There was even old Mrs Bonnard in the bath once again.
Following a light lunch, we made our way to the station. This was a bit of a trial and stress as to how to load and unload the bikes onto the Shinkansen within the very brief time it was in the station. We were lucky the train wasn't too full, with no Americans or Chinese with their massive suitcases. Talking of foreigners, we have only seen one non-Asian in our whole trip and that was for a brief second, he was getting into a car.
We arrived in Izumi and found our hotel within just a few metres of the station. With the train running at over 300km/h, it took less than half an hour, a journey which would have taken us a day on bicycle.
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| Mt Sakurajima |
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| Having a foot bath while admiring Mt Sakurajima |
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| Japanese purity |
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| A rare portrait of Mrs Matisse in Villa Le Rêve |
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| Bicycle safely stowed away in the Shinkansen |
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