Day 12 - Saturday 25 March - Nagasaki
Slept in til 06:38!
Got ready and watched our arrival into Nagasaki from the top deck. We passed under the Megami Ohashi bridge on the way in, which apparently was built around the same time as the Queen Mary 2, and was built high enough to allow tall ships such as the Queen Mary 2 to pass underneath. Apparently there's only a six metre clearance! Lots of people were on the bridge, and we honked at them a few times :)
Crowds gathered on Magamio Bridge to welcome Queen Mary 2
Megami Ohashi Bridge and Queen Mary 2
Dry docks in Nagasaki bay
Kite flying over Nagasaki bay
Nagasaki
Looking up to Glover Garden
As we were pulling up to the dock on our port side, a little troupe of dancers and a full brass band came out to welcome us. They went for quite a while, it was pretty awesome.
Welcoming committee at Nagasaki
Welcoming committee at Nagasaki
Breakfast was a little more relaxed as we didn't have to rush for any tours. As it was a cruise terminal, they have it setup inside to deal with the cruise ships. There was quite a lot of people, but it all flowed fairly quickly. In the terminal they were also setup with an information stand giving out maps, a place selling the all day tram tickets (500 yen), and an ATM. So we were all set for the day really quickly. We didn't go on a tour in Nagasaki. We'd originally tried to get on one, but it was booked out and we were put on a wait list. So I did a bunch of my own research and decided we could have a better day doing things ourselves. So when a spot came up on the tour I didn't bother to accept it.
So after getting off the ship we headed for the nearest station on the blue line and took a tram up to Hamaguchi-Machi station to look at the peace memorial hall.
Queen Mary 2 at Nagasaki
Nagasaki manhole cover
Pool above the Memorial Hall and Nagasaki History and Folklore Museum
Nagasaki National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims
Paper crane I made and added to the collection
Then next door to the Atomic Bomb museum. Not a very big museum but problematic with flow because there's tv screens with lots of information but take quite a while to cycle through so people bunch up watching them and don't keep moving. And of course there were several Cunard tour groups passing through, so the place was quite cramped. But very interesting and focussing on the effects of the bomb in Nagasaki followed by a hall on the current state of nuclear weapons in the world.
Spiral entrance to the Atomic Bomb Museum
Paper cranes in the Atomic Bomb Museum
Wall clock found in a house near Sanno Shinto Shrine, about 800 metres from the hypocentre
Molten beads of stained glass from Urakami Cathedral
Our legs were hurting quite a bit at this point so we stopped in the cafe for a bit.
Instructions on how to use the toilet
Then we headed down the hill to the hypocentre. I've now been to both hypocentres for both nuclear blasts.
Sadako Sasaki statue
Canal where people tried to find water to relieve their burns
Hypocenter Cenotaph
Sun directly overhead the hypocenter
Wall remnant of Urakami Cathedral
And then up the hill to the peace park, which is in the location of a former prison that was reduced to its foundations in the blast.
Nagasaki Peace Statue through the Fountain of Peace
Fountain of Peace
Fountain of Peace
Remnants of the prison blocks
Paper cranes in Nagasaki Peace Park
Nagasaki Peace Statue
Took a red line tram back into town (Kokaido-Mae) to have a look at the Megane-bashi "spectacles" bridge. And we continued to wander down the channel looking at all the stone bridges across it.
Tram we took at Kokaido-mea tram station
Megane Bridge (Spectacles Bridge)
People crossing the Nakashima River
Then at random we wandered into this covered-street shopping area. We were just looking at the map when some locals asked if we needed help. We didn't really as we were just looking at it, but then we asked if there was any local Nagasaki dishes that they could recommend. She said we should try the "turkish rice" at a famous nearby cafe - the Olympic Cafe. So she took us there to show us where it was. Turns out it's just a pork katsudon on flavoured rice, with spaghetti and a bit of cabbage on the side. We also ordered a "cheeseburger" which was just a hamburger patty topped with cheese, also on the same rice and spaghetti. Quite an odd meal, but quite nice. It seems the cafe is quite famous for its 120cm high dessert towers. Amazing to see. But we were too full from lunch to attempt to eat one (and it was 15:00 by this point). We never would have even gone in there if it hadn't been for the local telling us where to go. As is the case in Japan, many restaurants are hidden away at the top of tiny little staircases, so if you didn't know they were there, you'd never think to go.
After lunch we continued walking south and went and had a good long wander around Dejima, which for a couple of hundred years was the only place which could do any western trade with Japan. Interesting stuff, and lots and lots of buildings with different things in them.
Dejima island next to the Nakashima River from the Dejima bridge
Old Dejima Seminary
Local Japanese guy who posed for me
Scale model of Dejima Dutch trading post
Scale model of Dejima Dutch trading post
Next we took a blue line tram to Takara-machi and hiked the kilometre to the base of the Inasa ropeway. I'd have done this earlier in the day if the weather had been better, but since it was grey all day I decided we could do this is as the last thing while it was still daylight, then hang around and wait til it got dark. Because apparently this was once voted the third best night view after Hong Kong and Monaco.
Stu under at tori at Mt Inasa
Our cable car at the Nagasaki Ropeway
Lookout building on Mt Inasa
View of Nagasaki from Mt Inasa
Queen Mary 2 from Mt Inasa
Nagasaki Harbour Bridge
So after getting our daytime photos, we sat in the foyer for a bit and had a drink and waited an hour or so for it to get dark. The problem with this place is it's tiny. And lots of people want to come and see the third best night view in the world. And most people that go there aren't satisfied with having a look and taking a few photos and then moving on. No, most of them are setup with with tripods and are there for the long haul and will. not. budge. I was getting so pissed off that I couldn't get anywhere near the fence to take a few photos. I actually leaned on a few of them at one point. Eventually after ages I was able to get some photos but it was a very frustrating experience. I think a bunch of them were waiting for the Queen Mary 2 to depart, but that was two and a half hours away.
Transmission towers on Mt Inasa
Crowds at Mt Inasa (that wouldn't MOVE)
View of Nagasaki from Mt Inasa by night
Queen Mary 2 from Mt Inasa by night
Nagasaki Harbour Bridge from Mt Inasa by night
So about 19:15 we headed back. We were able to get on a cable car fairly quickly which was good. Walked back to the tram, then two trams back to the ship (blue line to Tsuki-Machi, and a green line to Ouratenshudoshita, although it took so long to arrive we could have walked the two stops quicker heh).
Tunnel of Light
So it was a pretty full-on day (over 20000 steps!), but we got to do the things that we wanted to do, and at our own pace.
Stu went aboard first so I could get a definitive location on our room. Then I went on board. Getting through the terminal was super easy - just handed in my photocopied passport with the entry card stuck on it, and through I went. Slight queue at ship-board security.
Queen Mary 2 docked at Nagasaki International Cruise Ship Terminal by night
Looking into the Purser's Office on deck 2
Stu on our balcony showing the location of our room
Oura Church by night
Even though we'd (just) made it back to the ship by 20:30, we really didn't feel like dressing up for dinner, so we just grabbed a light dinner in the Kings Court. I wasn't going to have any dessert but they had a white chocolate fountain! So dipped a chocolate cake ball in that. Also took a bread roll and some butter for breakfast.
White chocolate fountain in Kings Court
I went up to deck 13 to watch the departure. Nagasaki's big suspension bridge is not lit up like Busan's, so it was a little boring heh.
Back in the room I heard something loud outside so went to see what it was. It was the pilot's boat, so watched it come alongside, and watched two guys jump off the Queen Mary 2 onto it. That was pretty cool.
Pilot boat which came to pick up the harbour pilot
Then it was wash hair and go to bed, after setting *everything* up to charge.
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