Matsushima on my mind

After Sendai, Donna and I both had the day off. Rather than go back to Koriyama, we decided to take advantage of Sendai's northern location and go sightseeing at Matsushima. Matsushima is one of the Three Views of Japan, known for its natural beauty (one down, two to go!). It really was gorgeous. Apparently, the beauty of Matsushima is summed up by this famous haiku:

Matsushima ah, Matsushima!
Ah, Matsushima, ah!
Matsushima, ah!

Which, I mean, COME ON. I could totally have written that. SUPPOSEDLY, the guy was at such a loss of words because of the beauty of Matsushima thats the best he could do, but I think thats kind of a cop-out. I mean, he could have taken a little time, calmed himself down, and at least put some effort into it.





Matsushima is absolutely gorgous...there are over 200 islands in the bay, all covered with pine trees. The bigger ones are connected to the mainland by long red bridges, and are quite beautiful to walk through as they are full of beautiful trees and flowers. There is also quite a large shrine there, as it used to be home to a humongous Buddhist Temple. There are tons of caves and walkways to explore, and we happily spent the day doing just that.

They also had kickin' boats to take you around the bay. I don't know about you, but when I see a boat that looks like a peacock, it pretty much puts me in an instant good mood. Too bad Mr. Peacock only went ONE WAY! We got stuck on what we affectionately termed "Garbage Island." It was basically a strip of land with a bunch of landfills on it, and a Pachinko Parlor (Japanese gambling that is absolutely everywhere). Once we escaped Garbage Island, (on a different boat) we were laughing, but being forced off your boat in a foreign place is a little startling. Mr. Peacock did us wrong!