Beppu

Friday, 19 August – We boarded the coach for a drive to Usa City where we visited the Usa Jingu Shrine, a Japanese National Treasure. Very lovely architecture and gardens, but it was also very hot that day as we made our way up the many steps that Shinto shrines always seem to find necessary. We were pleased we packed plenty of water!

Then back to Beppu for a visit to the main attraction, Jigoku Meguri, the “Boiling Hell” hot springs. They are named that way because each spring seems to depict an image from hell. We expolored two of them, Chinoike (Blood) Jigoku with its deep crimson colour and Onlishibozu Jigoku – mud bubbles, which emerge from boiling mud pools and look like the shaven heads of monks.

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This was fun – no one told me that the water in the spring was about 40oC!!! It took me several minutes, but I did it! ( Obviously not looking too relaxed, because it was HOT!!!)

Kumano and Japan Inland Sea

Getting back to our cruise, after we left Shimizu, we arrived at Kumano on Wednesday, 17 August at the end of the day to see the famous fireworks display.

The fireworks look a lot more impressive from this angle!

We were a bit confused about this; according to the information we had been given before we left, we expected to be taken off the ship by tender and taken to the beach where the fireworks were at. But no, the ship set anchor and we watched it from afar. The fireworks were very pretty, but there were long delays throughout the performance and if there was any music, we were too far away to hear it. So it was okay.

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The next day we spent cruising through the Japan Inland Sea. Very scenic, so we should have had the camera ready, but there was so much happening to keep us entertained on the ship that we forgot to take any photos!

Work in progress-Moving On

After much stitching, unpicking, pressing and re stitching, I have at last turned my strips of triangles into a Thousand Pyramid quilt, a very old design. Some of the points are not lined up perfectly, but I am pretty happy overall.

Now I am looking forward to going to the annual Quilt and Craft Show on Wednesday, when I intend to buy myself a mini steam iron to press all seams, and believe me, there are a lot!