Up bright and early and brought breakfast almost in bed. I'm making full use of my complimentary yukata, pretty much changing into it every time we go back to the flat. Today is Nagasaki sightseeing day and we do the obvious and start with the Peace Park and its hideous statue. We were there at 11 so expected to hear dolorous chimes at 11:02 to signal the time the A-bomb was dropped on August 9th 1945, but instead we got a strangely appropiate synthesised ditty coming out of speakers somewhere. We moved to where the hypocentre of the blast was, in another park a few metres down the road, and then on into the museum.
I don't really want to talk about the museum. Suffice to say I'd had enough by about halfway through and I just sat at the exit waiting for Fiona after that.
We went to Tsuki-machi after that and tried to no avail to find a place that served chanpon, supposedly a local speciality, but gave up and had a hearty bowl of hake soba instead. We went back to our luxury flat after that to try and work out where we were going next - a process which got me grumpy indeed (I guess the morning's visit to the A-bomb museum depressed me somewhat). Fiona rightly suggested a break, and we needed to get more use from our tram passes anyway, so we hopped on board for Deshima. Deshima was pretty much the first place in Japan to have foreigners staying and both the Portuguese and the Dutch made camp here. Their influence lives on in architecture, the Japanese Catholic church and some dishes like kasutera (Castella) cake and of course tenpura.
Of course, since we were in Nagasaki during the kunchi matsuri, Deshima was awash with people and stalls offering all manner of tasty treats and the usual festival-type goodies. We watched the sun go down over Nagasaki harbour and sorted out a hotel to stay in in Tokyo. We went back to the station to get our train tickets sorted for the next day and then guess what? Yes, you got it, my tummy was saying it was time to eat again. One of Nagasaki's other culinary specialities is a meal called shippoku, but since that can cost as much as 45,000¥... per head! we decided to try the Robin Hood again now we knew better how it worked. Sure enough, we were a lot less timid with the as-much-as-you-like self service salad and dessert bars this time...
I don't really want to talk about the museum. Suffice to say I'd had enough by about halfway through and I just sat at the exit waiting for Fiona after that.
We went to Tsuki-machi after that and tried to no avail to find a place that served chanpon, supposedly a local speciality, but gave up and had a hearty bowl of hake soba instead. We went back to our luxury flat after that to try and work out where we were going next - a process which got me grumpy indeed (I guess the morning's visit to the A-bomb museum depressed me somewhat). Fiona rightly suggested a break, and we needed to get more use from our tram passes anyway, so we hopped on board for Deshima. Deshima was pretty much the first place in Japan to have foreigners staying and both the Portuguese and the Dutch made camp here. Their influence lives on in architecture, the Japanese Catholic church and some dishes like kasutera (Castella) cake and of course tenpura.
Of course, since we were in Nagasaki during the kunchi matsuri, Deshima was awash with people and stalls offering all manner of tasty treats and the usual festival-type goodies. We watched the sun go down over Nagasaki harbour and sorted out a hotel to stay in in Tokyo. We went back to the station to get our train tickets sorted for the next day and then guess what? Yes, you got it, my tummy was saying it was time to eat again. One of Nagasaki's other culinary specialities is a meal called shippoku, but since that can cost as much as 45,000¥... per head! we decided to try the Robin Hood again now we knew better how it worked. Sure enough, we were a lot less timid with the as-much-as-you-like self service salad and dessert bars this time...
13:21 |
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