Blue Skies, Green Mountains: Nagasu-Taira ferry. Pedaling into Nagasaki

After a few days in Tamana resting and recouping from a cold, I rolled out heading for the Nagasu-Taira ferry. The ferry as usual was timely and quick to get to Taira.

Route 251 to Azuma was a breeze. Mostly nice, smooth roads and a little tailwind even. I had wanted to go north but by the time I realized I had missed my turn off, I was already on the southern peninsula. Re-routing I continued to enter Nagasaki from the south.

I didn't know there was a ton of climbing to come!

Switchback on rt 34

The above picture shows one of the ubiquitous vending machines scattered all over Japan. An interesting earthquake idea was to have the automated vending machines programmed to dispense drinks free should a disaster occur. The overgrown, disused, wooden stall next to it is used by local farmers to sell produce and fruit. They will usually neatly package fruit in a bag and then leave a sign suggesting a price near a coin box. The exchange is done on the honor system.

Nagasaki

My first view of Nagasaki climbing through switchbacks on rt 34. It would be all downhill from here to my hostel. There has been a chinese populace and a 'Chinatown' in Nagasaki since the 15th Century as well as being a bastion of christianity since the 16th century.

Casa Blanca Guest House was tucked in a street and right around the corner from Chinatown.

The next day I took the trolley to the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum. It is almost unthinkable at the destructive power of a nuclear weapon and the enduring, unfathomable pain of radiation sickness.

Entrance. Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum.

I exited the museum into an almost poetic, surreal scene of a sunny park full of cherry blossoms whose petals would flutter with the occasional gust of wind. One gets the literal sense of the Japanese concept of transience in life. I then walked over to the Nagasaki Peace Park and it's Statue Garden, which has incredible pieces donated from nations around the world.