Before we get to the hard stuff – sunrise this morning was amazing.
and was pretty much enjoyed by those of us who can manage to get up in the morning. Since the ship wasn’t due to dock until 1000, the Deck 8 lounge was a bit emptier than usual.
We sailed under yet another bridge
on our way into the harbor.
Getting off a ship in Japan is now pretty routine. There is ALWAYS an immigration check which wants to see both your ship’s card and your passport. This time we also had a custom’s inspection (mostly looking for food products I think).
We joined a couple of other travelers and took the tram first to the Atomic Bomb Museum and then hiked over to the Peace Park (links are much more expressive than me on a soap box or trying to interpret – English here & here. Unlike most often, these are not Wiki links.
The Atomic Bomb Museum is pretty blunt about what happened. Including the fact that this city was a secondary target and was hit due to smoke density at the first choice. Unluckily, the cloud cover cleared enough for the bomb to be dropped/detonated. The maps, remnants and descriptions are difficult to view at best. Read about it yourself – and think about a bomb that killed 1/3 of the citizens of a city, injured another 1/3, and wiped out schools, hospitals, and religious landmarks.
It was emotionally easier for me to walk over and to the Peace Park. On the way – we walked past the obelisk placed at ground zero.
saw other memorials contributed by other countries –
what remained post blast of the local prison (all died)
and the peace statue
Since it was “only” about three miles back to the ship, we elected to walk using the tram tracks as our guide so as not to get lost. I checked two Starbucks on the way but no luck on my favorite souvenir thermos.
We stopped for a short time at this amazing sailing vessel which was attracting hundreds of onlookers.
It is now 1615 on Nov 4 here and I am seriously thinking I need some lunch. The ship sails out at 1800.
