That would have left us sitting with our backs to the engine, but there's a facility that allows you to swing your seats through 180 degrees so you're facing the front again. Neat, eh?
We probably didn't need to do that, since it was only a matter of a couple of minutes before we were extricating ourselves from the carriage, onto a conveniently located elevator and headings towards the Shinkansen section, which was another floor above the intermediate level where we flashed our tickets and rail passes.
The train was ready and waiting, set to go, the baggage space at the rear of Carriage 2 conveniently empty, and once I'd shed the merino undergarment that had been a vital cog in the keep Hughesy warm arrangements over the previous couple of days it was time to settle back with the iPod shuffling through the playlists and enjoy the bits of new territory I was able to glimpse between tunnels as we made our way towards Morioka, where we'd left the Tohoku Shinkansen line en route to Kakunodate four days earlier.
From there it was on to Sendai, where there wasn't a mad scramble to get from train to hotel to local line for the afternoon jaunt to Matsushima, but we moved at a pretty fair clip. It wasn't as if we needed to hurry, but there's a basic issue when you're not familiar with the actual lie of the actual land and lunch was waiting at the other end of the suburban rail,leg, so it made sense to get to the right station on the right line ASAP even if there wasn't any urgency involved. Things would have been much easier if we'd paused and looked round the corner at the Lottery agency on the corner, as per the directions we'd been given at Reception when we checked in the luggage, but we didn't look, didn't find the handy subway entrance we emerged from on the return journey subsequently almost went via the cape.
Once we'd arrived at the appropriate station, Mitsushima Kaigan (Beach) as opposed to Mitsushima which sits on the JR Tohoku Main Line a ten minute walk away from where people visiting the scenic bay actually want to go, the first job was to find lunch.
We probably could have looked around for other options, but just along from the station there was a funky little place offering oyster burgers, which definitely seemed like the way to go. Mitsushima is, after all, a prime oyster producing area, as was obvious once we hit the water.
The oyster burger went down a treat, and I could easily have opted for anotherie, but there were places to go and sights that needed to be seen, so I had to be content with the prospect of a grilled oyster and a glass of white wine once we'd been out on the briny. I was intrigued, to say the least, by what variety of white wine a funky little operation like this one would be able to rustle up.