Trip to Nagasaki

We left Monday morning for a 3 day trip to Nagasaki.  It took us about 6 hours by train to get there.

Our hotel was only a few minutes walk from the station.  Our room was very, very small and the bed was very, very hard, but it was reasonably priced and it had one of those fantastic toilets that I love!

The first afternoon we visited the Atomic Bomb Museum. This bomb was dropped on August, 9, 1945, three days after the first bomb was dropped over Hiroshima.  After visiting these sites and seeing the devastation and suffering we hope this device will never have to be used again.   The bombs helped the war end sooner and saved the lives of many American soldiers, but it was still a terrible thing. 

Here are some pictures from the Peace Park.

This picture was taken of the exact spot where the bomb exploded.

                                                    This clock stopped at 11:02 when the bomb hit.

This is a replica of the actual size of the bomb.  Almost 75,000 people died and many more were injured and died later as a result of one bomb.

Here is a picture of what was left of a prison that was completely leveled.

This statue is in the Peace Park. 

There were more cranes displayed here.

And one very long continuous chain of cranes was made by a man using a single piece of paper 150 meters (492 feet) long!  It wraps around the stairwell. 

On to happier things!  Here is a huge Ferris Wheel near the train station.

This is a picture of an enormous Christmas tree outside the Nagasaki train station.

On Tuesday morning we rode one of the many city buses across the city to the Penguin Aquarium. The bus driver waved to every other bus driver along the half hour route!

This exhibit is home to many penguins and has several huge and many small salt water aquariums.  It has hundreds of varieties of fish and 8 different species of penguins.

That afternoon we walked to Chinatown.  Wenji told us to eat Champon, so we did.  It is noodles, meat, and vegetables.  We also got some fried rice.  It was quite delicious.  I let Scott have all the octopus!

Here is a picture of a typical napkin you would find in most Japanese restaurants, if they have a napkin at all.  I guess this is where your personal towel would come in handy!  They also do not you give you a very big glass!

Here is another good fortune cat.

A vendor was making and selling these beautiful ice milk rose creations on the street near Chinatown.  We thought they were pretty so we bought some, but we found out that there wasn’t very much ice cream in the cone but they were quite artistic!

That afternoon we went to Glover Garden.  It was settled by a Scotsman named Thomas Glover in the mid 1800’s and many of the buildings have been preserved and are used today as a tourist attraction.  They let people dress up in period clothing.  I thought these Japanese girls looked pretty cute in their vintage dresses.

We are still trying to figure out why it is called Glover Garden, because we couldn’t find gardens there, just a few small flower beds.

                                A view of the harbor from Glover Hill.

That evening we went to Mt. Inasa.  We rode a bus to the bottom of the mountain where we took a 5 minute tram ride to the top of the mountain.  We got some good pictures of the late afternoon view, then we stayed and got some pictures of the night view of the city of Nagasaki.  You can walk 360 degrees around the top of the observation deck. I think our blood has thinned because we were freezing!  We had shirts, sweatshirts, and jackets on and we were still cold!  They said the temperature at the top of the mountain was about 5 degrees Celsius, and the wind was blowing!  We will never survive the cold when we get back to Idaho!

Taken from the tram on the way up the mountain.

                                                                               Daytime view.

Taken at sunset.

                                               Nighttime view.

According the brochure-"The 10-million dollar view, called a jewelry box of radiance."

This is a picture of the oldest stone arch bridge in Japan.  It was built in 1634.  It is called the Spectacles Bridge and got its name due to the reflection of the arches in the river forming a pair of eyeglasses.

We got lost on our way to find the bridge so we stopped this lady and asked her to point the way for us.  She proceeded to walk us about 1/2 mile to the bridge.  Soooo nice!

Here is a picture of a typical taxi in Japan.  They have white lace covering the seats!  They are spotless inside and out!