Friday 24th July 2009 – Nagasaki and rain

Woke up today to very heavy rain. After a lovely buffet breakfast we set off on a walking tour of the Southern bit of Nagasaki, first visiting Dejima. The rain kept starting and stopping all morning but at least it kept the temperature down. After Dejima we went to Glover Park which was absolutely beautiful. I only wish the rain had held off long enough to be able to sit in the gardens but it did feel as though we were constantly dodging in and out of the buildings to avoid the rain.

Nagasaki from Glover Park

Nagasaki from Glover Park

There was one particular part with a statue of Puccini Madame Butterfly and a lovely pond where they played the Aria from Madame butterfly which was very atmospheric, but again I felt as though I rushed through it.

After glover Park a group of us, Mary, Nicky, Suzanne, Keith, Gary, Iris and myself took the No1 Blue line tram to Ohashi Station wand went to the Peace Park. From the moment I saw the remains of the Urakami Prison this felt like a very special place in a sad but peaceful way. We walked down to the hypercentre of the bomb which I found a very moving place although I somehow couldn’t comprehend the whole thing or relate this place to what happened. It was as though I just couldn’t take in the enormity of the place. 

We then went to the atomic bomb museum which was again a very moving place. However I managed to look a t the exhibits in quite a detached manner until we came to the last photograph of a small boy carrying what looked like a sleeping baby on his back. The baby was in fact already dead and the narrative under the photo explained that the boy had brought the baby to the place fro cremation. I struggled to keep back the tears. This one photo amongst all the others really brought home the human tragedy of the situation. It was a somewhat more subdued group that made its way back to the hotel.

After dropping our day sacks off, Iris, Gary, Nicky and myself went to the wharf are for tea. We went into You, Me department store and up to the restaurant on the 4^th floor where we had an amazing buffet meal. During the meal however an almighty thunder storm began with spectacular sheet lightening and torrential rain. Nicky and I did a quick shop for rubber flipflops and changed into them for a dash back to the hotel. However as we left the shop it had almost stopped and we thought we were safe. Oh no! out of nowhere it stated again. So taking the cheats way out we hailed a taxi and got home slightly less wet! Then off to our rooms to pack for another early start tomorrow.