When we left our hotel in Kanazawa this morning, we stopped
briefly at the train station located about a block away. Like several train
stations in towns we've stayed in during our trip, it's a beautiful building
full of very high-end eating places and stores. What makes Kanazawa's station
especially impressive is the Tsuzumi Gate, built in 2005, that serves as the
entranceway to the station.
Today was the first of four days that we'll spend biking on
Noto peninsula. This peninsula, which is shaped like a bent finger, projects 60
miles into the Sea of Japan from the middle of the northern shore of Honshu (Japan's
main island). It is noted for its coastal scenery, and the rugged coast that we
cycled along today was incredibly beautiful.
At the end of our ride, we arrived at our lodging, which is
an "onsen", or facility with a natural hot springs bathing facility.
Japan, which is a volcanically active country, has thousands of onsens. These
are major tourist attractions, in part because the chemicals in the hot springs
are felt to have medicinal properties. Onsens usually have separate pools for
men and women, and nude bathing is the norm, with bathing suits not allowed in
many onsens. Interestingly, many onsens ban bathers with tattoos, which in
Japan are traditionally viewed as a sign of criminality. Like other things in
Japan, there is a well-defined set of rules guiding etiquette in and around
onsens.
At our hotel today, we visited but did not bathe in the hot
spring pools.
 |
| The entrance gate to Kanazawa train station |
The cool fountain in front of the train station, which displays the time and other messages via sprayed water (click to play)
 |
| Leaving Kanazawa |
 |
| Our mid-morning break |
Several images from our ride on Noto peninsula:
Carol entering the hot springs building at our onsen:
