Tuesday Morning in Nagaoka
A lazy morning to let Rebecca and Sherrie catch
up on their sleep. Didn:t even get out of the hotel until 10+00 and right
now we are at a civic center using their free computers.
Yesterday was Rebecca's last day in Koriyama and she did really well. Considering
she finished her mission there and has some close friends therre. After we
packed everything up, we left the luggage in the lobby and headed to the church
so Rebecca could drop off some last minute gifts. \actually, she had me haul
a lot os stuff over from the states and she put together a lot of thoughtful
gifts.
Then we headed back to the eki and caught the Shinkansen to Nagaoka (we had
to go south almost to Tokyo and transfer at the Omiya station and then head
back north and west to Nagaoaka. We went through a lot of long tunnels, must
have breen long since even at two hundred miles an hour we were in the tunnels
for awhile. The countryside in the west coast is prettier I think, than the
east coast of Japan. Of course, I have only been able to see it through the
windows of a very fast train. We bought the Japan Rail Pass and decided to
get the first class version...good choice, by the way, since you have lots
and lots of leg room (which you will see from the pictures) and the cars aren:t
very full at all.
Nagaoka is pretty small compared to the other cities we have been in, and
the hotel was, fortunately, close to the eki so we didn:t have far to go.
I was up early and out walking around and if you wander off the main street
you are out of the downtown area!
It is pretty wam and humid today and I have really been working up a sweat.
\apparently here in Japan everyone carries a small terry cloth towel in their
pocket. So now I am carrying one also.
We are on our way to meet a friend (one of her investigators who was baptized
aver she was transferred) of Rebecca:s who is going to take us to lunch.
Nagaoka was one of Rebecca:s first areas and she says that it is very different
being back and now being able to speak the language, etc.
We still don:t see "gaijin" at all. \we are usually the only foreigners
around. \apparently no one comes to these parts of Japan for tourist purposes.
It would be pretty difficult (not impossible) to just wander around Japan
because so much of the signage, etc., is in the Japanese characters. Maybe
that is why not many touristscomethis way. Our next few days will be in Kyoto
and Tokyo and I imagine we will see lots of tourists.
We are staying at the New Miyako Hotel in Kyoto and the Imperial Hotel in
Tokyo.
Well, we are headed out.
Sayonara,
Dad
Day 6 - Tuesday, July 3rd - Nagaoka and lunch with friends and museum and train to Kyoto |