Last days Of Golden Week...

Yes, I am still playing catch up!

So, our last day in Kitakami, we had a lovely breakfast (doesn't it taste better when someone else has cooked it?) and aimed to set of early, trouble was we couldn't separate these two, they had become best buddies and just wanted to play!

 Eventually we set off, the traffic wasn't too bad most of the way, it did clog up at one point due to an accident so we pulled off at the services for a bite to eat and a samurai photo opportunity...

 We made it to the youth hostel in Fukushima around 4.30pm. The place we stayed is at the foot of Mount Bandai and is famous for Goshiki-numa (5 coloured lakes). Due to the mineral deposits from a volcanic eruption the lakes have their own delicate colours. It was too late for us to do the whole hike and see all the lakes but we walked about half of it, they really were pretty and we decided to go back another time and camp.

 We were up bright and early the next morning, mainly because breakfast was served at 7.30am so we had another wander around the lakes but went in the opposite direction this time. We spotted this little beastie, I thought it was a snake at first but then reaslised it had legs, we did spot quite a big snake warming itself in the sun but since non of us have a clue about snakes, or more to the point, which ones are dangerous, we stayed a good distance away.

 After the early morning jaunt, we headed just down the road to the Salvador Dali museum, yes, one of the biggest collections of Dali artwork is housed in the middle of nowhere in Japan - go figure! It was a good exhibit to take kids to because of the strange sculptures and paintings, Ebi-kun really enjoyed it and decided that his favourite sculptures were the melting clocks and his favourite painting was The Battle of Tetuan.

Then it was back on the highway and back home. Shattered. In need of a holiday.