Nagasaki and Fukuoka

We went to Nagasaki in early November, 2010.

We flew into Kansai, stayed overnight in Osaka, then bullet trained to Hakata (Fukuoka) where we changed to an express train.  It took two and a half hours to get to Hakata, and a further two hours to arrive at Nagasaki.

Nagasaki has a population of 440,000.

Nagasaki would be a great city for the first trip to Japan.

It is so filled with wonderful Japanese !  We arrived, and walked out from the railway station looking lost. (That's a neat ploy of mine - the more lost and silly one looks the more help one receives ? )
I asked a lady where our hotel was, and lo and behold, she said: "follow me".  So altho she was walking south, she turned west and took us on the 30 minute stroll to our hotel, then turned and went back to whence she had come.



Nagasaki has a ropeway !

There are trams.

Lots of hilly walks in the city.

Lots of shrines and temples. Guess why the Japanese are so fit ?  Stairs ! 

We went to the Peace Park, and I saw the stairs, and had a hissy fit! (bad hip) Hero saved the day and discovered a sloped path around the back. 

It looks better looking down ?

It is his big toe !

Outside the Atomic Bomb Museum a gelato vendor made the prettiest.

Outside the museum.

Street sculpture, and Madame Butterfly.

There is a river, and an adjacent path with 7 magnificent stone bridges, the first being called 'Spectacles Bridge'.

Steps across the river.

Big Harley Davidson bike at the All Japan Harley Davidson Festival.

Sofukuji Shrine.  In times of need, this pot could cook enough rice to feed 5,000 people

You'll get fit in Japan ! The climb to the cooking pot above.

ISAHAYA

It is a 30 minute train trip to Isahaya, where you'll find a bigger version of Spectacles Bridge.

Lovely gate into a bone orchard.

And steps across a river again !

So much street sculpture in Japan.

OMURA

Omura is a 12 minute train trip from Isahaya. There is a castle park there, and you'll need to taxi from Omura Station to the park.

FUKUOKA

On the way home we spent a night in Fukuoka. Amazing ACROS building has about 12 floors of gardens on the western side.

So Japanese a thing to do.  A business man saw us looking here and there, and obviously tourists, so he, using his security card, took us to the top floor of his building for a better view.

There is more on Fukuoka in the Fukuoka post.