April 22 Kagoshima
We arrived early afternoon and staying until tomorrow afternoon. Happily, haven't had time to get on a scale because, obviously, too busy eating my way to oblivion. Breakfast on the rear deck patio and they just offer too much to be able to cut back .
History lesson this morning where Hirohito was described as a war criminal. First time I'd heard that. My understanding had been that the military had pushed him into the conflict.
Lunch was a bar b q on the pool deck served by the officers. Everything from ribs to steak to suckling pig. First meal that I didn't have any 🍰. Limited myself to fruit. Not difficult to do when you have someone to slice mangos or melons on request.
After lunch, I grabbed the first shuttle to town. Michael was supposedly staying in to ice his ankles, which he did eventually, but not before going for a walk in the park (go figure!), next to the port.
At first I thought that there were clouds over the volcano, but found out that it was steam coming out.
On the shuttle, some people invited me to join them, on their venture. Fool that I am, thought that I was better off on my own.
In town, I made my way up a hill that overlooks the city, without too many problems. It was the coming down, that I wasn't so sure of. For a short while, thought that I would surely die on top of this mountain (ridiculously, the equivalent of being stuck on the top of Mount Royal, where you also don't want to come down the wrong way and end up on the other side of town- didn't have time for that). Eventually, had a little Japanese lady, take me to a path. Going up, was just a nice path, albeit kind of steep. This path going down was entirely stairs. For a little while,I thought I had transcended to another planet, because now I was in a more tropical place with orange and bamboo trees.