Bicycle: 53 km
Train: 150 km
Route: Minami Kusatsu - Miho Museum - Moriyama
Total riding time: 3:35 h
Total ascent: 480 m
Weather: sunny, but not too hot, 21C
My ride today did bring to a very special place, Miho Museum. I had heard about this museum already quite some time ago, but always only knew that it was hard to reach... which kind of is true. But today I gathered my determination and set out to ride up (!) to it.
And actually it wasn't as hard as I thought, it was a steady climb up, well, with a few a bit more flat patches, but really only between the lower and the upper parking lot at the museum, the road became too steep... so I parked at the lower one.
The museum is superbly integrated in the nature plus has a very selected collection (which I actually didn't see), but more on that later.
The setting of the museum is unique and in koyo season it must also be spectacular, but today with the hanami it was incredible.
The museum itself does not seem to be very large, but actually I only saw about half of it, a special temporary exhibition about Zen art with the main treasures of Daitokuji temple in Kyoto. One had to stand in a queue for a bit, but I used the time to listen to the audio guide. The exhibition itself was really worth it.
The rest of the museum seems to house selected art works from different ancient cultures, e.g. egyptien, roman... I didn't have time nor strength to see these parts today as well. So I can come back to the museum in the future.
This was now the 4th weekend in a row with Hanami!
Both on the way up as well as the way down, I passed through, what I think is the nicest small village in Japan I have seen so far. Totally un-touristic, actually a totally anonymous village, not too small, not too big, but still in its vast majority it has maintained (and lived in) the traditional houses: Kamitanakami.
And the day finished perfectly in an onsen (super-sento) in Moriyama.
A perfect day!
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And actually it wasn't as hard as I thought, it was a steady climb up, well, with a few a bit more flat patches, but really only between the lower and the upper parking lot at the museum, the road became too steep... so I parked at the lower one.
The museum is superbly integrated in the nature plus has a very selected collection (which I actually didn't see), but more on that later.
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| Breathtaking view like a paravent from the museum |
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| Entrance way to the museum |
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| Approach to the museum |
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| The museum in form of a shrine |
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| View from the lobby |
The rest of the museum seems to house selected art works from different ancient cultures, e.g. egyptien, roman... I didn't have time nor strength to see these parts today as well. So I can come back to the museum in the future.
This was now the 4th weekend in a row with Hanami!
- 31/Mar: Kyoto with colleagues and blossoms still nearly closed
- 6 & 7/April: ride to Daigoji
- 13/April: trip to Yoshino
- 20/April: weeping cherries at Miho museum
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| Kyoto, Yoshino, Daiguji, Miho Museum |
Both on the way up as well as the way down, I passed through, what I think is the nicest small village in Japan I have seen so far. Totally un-touristic, actually a totally anonymous village, not too small, not too big, but still in its vast majority it has maintained (and lived in) the traditional houses: Kamitanakami.
And the day finished perfectly in an onsen (super-sento) in Moriyama.
A perfect day!
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