This picture does it no justice but was the best I could get.
At around 6 a.m., the train, not nearly as comfortable as the one on the way up, rolled into Aomori. I took the Express train to Morioka, then got on a shinkansen, sleeping as soon as I got on each train and waking up only as we arrived.
The train stopped at Sendai, and I was aware of it stopping, and woke up for a moment, but I decided that I still wanted to sleep some more so I stayed in my seat as we left the station, Tokyo bound. I didn't quite sleep all the way to Tokyo, but far enough to make it worth it so by the time I arrived in the busiest train station in the world, I felt pretty good. I had previously considered taking a long, slow train route from Sendai on my way down to Tokyo that would travel along the ocean but I now decided that I would take it that way back up. I had the time and my rail pass so it wouldn't cost me anything extra. I went to Information to make sure it would actually be along the ocean for most of the time, and the tracks indicated that it would be, so I reserved a window seat on the sea side.
On the map, the tracks had looked closer to the water, but it wasn't until just before Hitachi that I could first see the ocean, and even then it was just bits, never a solid ride along the water like I'd hoped/thought it would be when looking at the map.
This train ride has been very disappointing overall, as I could only see the ocean for a very, very short time. However, the rain stopped and the sun came out and showed the most extraordinary rainbow I've ever seen. It arched clearly all the way across the sky, solid from one end to the other, and had three layers of the rainbow colors in it (ROYGBIVROYGBIVROYGBIV)!
It also, randomly, made me think of the most beautiful sunset I've ever seen. Surprisingly, it wasn't over an ocean but on a stopover in Zurich on my way to Prague. The snow covered mountains were black and white, reflected in the lake and covered by a gorgeous dark pink/orange/red/purple/gold sky. I remember wanting to take a picture at the time but I was in an aisle seat so I would've had to reach over someone to do so. Now I think I should have done it anyway.
After all that rambling, I made it to Sendai and found a hostel. I did my laundry, got some take away dinner and just slept.
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