Our first stop was the Peace Park, built to commemorate the devastation caused by the atomic bomb in 1945. There was one large statue in the center with a number of smaller ones along the sides. The smaller ones were given by different countries around the world. From there we went to to the Atomic Bomb Hypocenter, another park to commemorate the exact location of the blast which was right next door. From there it was a short walk to the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum. It was very well done with artifacts which had been in the blast and many pictures. At the end there was a short film showing some of the victims, then another one which showed all the nuclear tests around the world done by the USA, Britain, France and Russia, by year with actual films of many of them. Very well done. In all 3 of these sites there were dozens of school children, most in uniforms. Many said "hi" or "nice to meet you". Very cute.
We got back on the trolley and went to the One Legged Tori Gate. It stood on a sidewalk between modern buildings. It was 1/2 of a Shrine gate which was still standing after the bomb. The other 1/2 was in pieces laying along the sidewalk near by. Back on the trolly, this time we were headed to a temple. Called Kofuji Temple, it was build in the 1600's. There was a cemetery next to it which went all the way up a hill, very interesting.
On our way to our next sight we found a walking street with many antique shops. They had some nice things but none of them took credit cards. No shopping there. We had very few yen left. We found the Spectacle bridge. It is called that because when the double arches are reflected in the water below it looks like a pair of glasses. The lighting wasn't right nor was there enough water in the canal, so not very impressive. We continued down the walking street which turned into an enclosed street arcade like in Kobe. The stores were pretty expensive. I went into a kimono store to look around. Mel noticed a sign saying inexpensive used kimonos upstairs. They had a LOT! And they were beautiful. Two other couples from the ship were there trying on the jackets. I ended up buying 4 more plus 2 beautiful obi bows, worn on the back of the kimono sash. For $2 each they will look beautiful on a Christmas tree! Another great find.
We found the trolly again and headed to the Confucian Shrine, the only one of it's kind built by Chinese outside of China. We had to transfer from the blue to the green trolly at one point. There must have been 50 people on that narrow platform in the middle of the street, most school children but also a German tour group. They all packed into that small trolly, it was amazing. We were close to the front so actually had seats. There were a lot of people standing.
The Confucian Shrine was badly damaged by the bomb but is still standing. It was beautiful! There were all sorts of animals on the roof, very elaborately done. Inside were statues of different wise Chinese men, lined up almost like the terra cotta soldiers. These were carved from marble. There was a beautiful garden with huge koi. Mel fed them some bread. We walked thru the shrine. On the other side was the entrance to the Historical Museum of China. It had some beautiful pieces of art from China as well as several of the terra cotta soldiers. It was a small museum with nothing in English, but had some nice things.
At the last trolly stop we had seen our ship. We headed in that direction which was also toward the Bekko Crafts Museum. I barely had enough yen left to get in. It was very small but filled with the most beautiful objects, all made from tortoise shell. I felt bad for all the sea turtles that they represented but enjoyed looking at them.
Our ship was repositioning at 4 pm to be closer to the departure customs area. We went directly to where it would be for departure hoping for free wifi in the terminal. Carrying my iPad all day had been worth it, they had wifi and it was very fast. I was able to download some magazines, upload several blog posts and catch up on email. I also caught up on all the news about our neighbors house burning down. It would have been awful if the flames had jumped to a neighboring house, especially ours! The house is a complete loss, so sad. While a magazine was downloading I went back to a store we'd passed to spend the last of my yen. Back at the terminal, there were too many people on wifi so it pretty much quit. At least I was able to do some of what I'd wanted to do. The tour buses started arriving back and the people were lined up to go thru the departure process. We jumped in line and went thru quite quickly. We'd been given a group number to go later but it was much more convenient to go then. We raced to our cabin to leave our packages and were only 10 minutes late for dinner. It had been a great day, in beautiful sunshine, about 75 degrees out. Glad we had the opportunity to visit Nagasaki, it has a lot of history.
One sea day then the great city of Shanghai!!
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