Nagasaki bombing commemoration day and first day of biking

Hello to everyone following our travel from outside!
Today you will have a Danish update about what happened in the past 18 hours and it has been a lot!

Today is the 9th of August and thus the 67th anniversary of the Nuclear bombing of Nagasaki. We were invited as VIP's to the commemoration ceremony along with many important people from Japan and abroad. After having packed our things we biked to the Nagasaki Peace Park where the event was taking place. Amongst all the other guests dressed appropriately formal we were feeling a little bit displaced in our biking outfits but nevertheless we were treated as important people. The event started with impressive Japanese precision at 10:35 with a song sung by a choir of the last remaining Hibakusha's (japanese word for the Nuclear bombing survivors). At 11:02 a minute of Silence was held with sirens howling and after that, a Hibakusha told his story about the day that changed his life when he was 15 years old. Many of us had tears in their eyes during the ceremony, including me. Imagine that we have been talking, hearing and reading about the Nuclear Bombing in Nagasaki and Hiroshima for years and years, but now we were at the hypocenter and saw it! We have seen the survivors and the new generation, especially many school kids, commemorating the death and suffering of hundreds of thousands of people. Seeing these people, our work for a world free of nuclear weapons got a real commitment. It must never ever happen again!
Interestingly enough, navigating through Nagasaki, our landmark was the hypocenter of the Nuclear bomb explosion. When we were driving with the tram or the bikes we always knew where to go from that point. Somehow strange, don't you think?

After the ceremony we got on our bikes and started with the first 10 kilometres to the lunch place. It was great finally to get on a bike and also to get out of the city where it was very hard to keep track of all the people. After a short lunch break we drove in three groups to our destination. The road is quite dangerous, no bicycling lane and many cars driving by, but they are usually very attentive and respectful towards us drivers. Moreover the route was not as flat as in Denmark, and many hills were challenging us during the trip but we never expected what was about to come… A mountain, supposedly short and steep, turned out to be 5km of very steep ascending. After pushing and fighting our way up, or getting a little lift with one of the vans, we finally arrived at our destination: a beautiful hostel located on the very top of the mountain and with an amazing view over the Nagasaki bay. Our king-cookers under the leadership of Stephi and Katja made a delicious noodle dish and now, after a short group meeting everyone is very exhausted and resting before a new day of long biking.

yours, Alix