Summer vacation 14 - overview and first impressions

This year I'm going to Tohoku, the northern part of Honshu. It should be a bit cooler than the Kanto aera. I will see. Here a map with the way up. The map for the return will follow later.

First stop is Aizu Wakamatsu with a castle, that has a red roof which is supposed to be the only in Japan. And it has a nice garden and a lot of water around.

On the next day in the morning I'm heading for Ouchijuku (大内宿, Ōuchijuku), a village with old houses a bit like Shirakawa go. One house is a museum 

A little temple on a hill above 

And close by a nice view over all the village.

Pretty flowers and a kind of lily, that I saw more often during the day

Next stop is Urabandai, which is a highland (about 800m), that was formed by the last eruption of mount Bandai in 1886 or so. It has a lot of lakes and ponds.

There is a nice nature trail

I took the bicycle, which I have with me, going to the one end of the trail, walking to the other end.

Amazing colors!

 some more flowers

and a waterfall

closed the day. A last view from the side of Mount Bandai towards Aizu shows some of the clouds, that were all around but lucky me, I stayed dry.