D3 NAAF to a great artistic viewpoint

Route: Omachi - Art in the eastern mountains- Matsumoto
Bicycle: 73 km
Train: 220 km
Total ascent: 1224 m

Average speed: 14,2 km/h

Riding time: 5:06 h

Weather: cloudy, sunny, some drops if rain, 20 C

For the last day in the area to see the art festival I went to the most “inconvenient“ locations, spread out through the mountains opposite the Japanese Alps. 

Due to my early start - weather forecast had rain from about noon, maybe later - and I wanted to be safely back in the valley before the rain came in, I missed the first work of art, by 45 min. They only open at 9:30. 

At the second I arrived minutes after it opened, after riding up quite a lot and then down again. I have no idea what this work of art was supposed to tell me though. Surprisingly though it wasn’t in an abandoned building but in a very new production hall.

From here I had multiple options, the less climbing (and less art) would have been to ride downhill all the way to Omachi, but what I had planned was to visit the other 3 art projects in the area, including one on the top of mountain at 1130 m before dipping down again into a valley at 710 m and the next work of art, just to need to return back-up again over a mountain pass at 920 m. So yeah, a lot of up and down. But I went for it anyway, and did not regret it. The art work, actually it is a building that is permanently there was really great, although not thought provoking like the trees yesterday. 

I had seen a picture of the building before and thought that one must have a nice view from there (and that's true... although not so much today, as the Japanese alps for these 3 days did expertly hide themselves behind some low hanging clouds. Yes... you see mountains in front, but those are the low lying mountains. The real ones are behind, invisible. 

But when I entered the building I understood this is not about what one sees from the building, this is about the interior of the building. 

It is like a traditional Japanese house, even with a little bit of tatami on the second floor, with the wooden partitions where to put sliding doors, but a house that was filled by a white round mass. It's not fluffy, but somehow welcoming and round. It even has a second floor with a view point to below. 

It was probably a very good choice to come here on a working day Monday. I wasn't alone, but we were only about 5 - 6 visitors, so one could get nice shots of the building without people. If that's the number of visitors on this mountain top on a weekday... I can imagine that on a weekend it must be rather full. Maybe they are controlling at the entrance that there is only a limit number of visitors (there is a finite number of white rubber slippers they give to visitors). But still will be more than the people visiting today. 

On that same mountain top was a restaurant as well, where I had a plate of curry rice... and then down it was to the village behind which got their community center envolved in something. Well... after the architectural experience on the mountain top, this wasn't so moving. 

There was a great view from here though as well, over the mountains towards Nagano, and all those trees... this is what I meant with the post yesterday, that Japan has too many trees. Trees everywhere. Hardly any human activity can be seen. (I realize that these are not primary forests... but still) 

To get back to Omachi and ultimately to Matsumoto, I needed to make it over one last pass, which fittingly also was the last piece of art I visited... in a now abandoned tunnel. Yet an other piece of art that didn't tell me absolutely anything. 

So finally I managed to visit all the art works in the most inconvenient locations, except the one where I was too early today in the morning. The ones I did not visit are the ones conveniently located in Omachi itself, because I decided to prioritize riding my bike over seeing yet more art. 

And back to Matsumoto it was. Along the river in some places one could ride at a very nice speed, but closer to Matsumoto it got very windy and with a little bit of up and down (nothing enormous), progress was a little bit slower. But still I made it to a super sento very conveniently located at less than 2 km from Matsumoto station by around 15:45, with enough time to enjoy a good soak and even my first post-summer akasuri (= Korean body scrub).