Ashore In Nagasaki

      Nagasaki was the second to last port on this phase of the cruise. Since we were docked in the city

Taking The Trolly

at a very nice cruise terminal, there was no need to shuttle into town. In fact it was easy to take public trolly to the sites that we had selected. Since this city was destroyed by atomic bomb in 1945 it was an easy choice to go to the Peace park, ground zero and the Atomic bomb museum.

We were up very early and decided to complete the immigration check immediately. Since the tours were leaving later, by 7:30 we were ashore to get finger printed and have our photo taken and a stamp placed on the copy of or passport. We did the thermal scanner thing as well. It only took a few minutes and since no one was at immigration, we were back on board in about 10 minutes. We then and had a very nice breakfast before hitting the city by 9. We found the street car and managed it quite well. The port lecturer that has been giving the port talks is very good. The trams have automatic change machines and you deposit the fare when you leave the tram. No matter how far you go, the fare is the same. Of course we were following the crowd like a bunch of lemmings! We were actually able to transfer and then get off at the right stop.

Peace Park!

Paper Cranes

    Our first destination was the Peace Park which was close to ground Zero. It is full of peace monuments donated by countries and cities around the world. We looked for one from Canada but did not find it. However there are many locations for the monuments. There is one main sculpture dedicated to Peace. The park was the site which held ruins from a prison that use to be in the area. All that was left were a few basic wall foundations.

    The second stop was Ground Zero. There is a monument in this park at the exact point where the Atomic bomb detonated. It was very plain and simple. There was also a portion of a Catholic church that was moved there. I can remember seeing that structure in the photos of the damage in Nagasaki. They also have a portion of ground that preserved since the 1945. In all it was very well done in an extremely simple manner. One of the things that we encountered were paper cranes. The crane is the

symbol of Nagasaki. A young girl was dying after the blast and her classmates said that they would make her a string of 1000 cranes. This has become a symbol for peace that is used extensively. You can but multi-strands of the small paper cranes and then hang them on the a memorial. We saw many of these bundles as we walked around the bomb site.

 

Part of Church Not Destroyed 

   Our last stop was at the Atomic Bomb Museum where the story of

Watch Your Step

Nagasaki is retold. They have many artifacts that have been collected and preserved. They also have a model of the bomb that was dropped. It was a very sobering and moving experience. We could only look at the results of the bombing so long before we both decided to leave. It is very hard to describe the feeling that we had in that museum. The photos of the people and the stories that were told made it impossible to dwell for very long. It was very well presented in such a simplistic way.

     We found the right tram to take to get back to the ship. By now it had started to rain steadily and we certainly needed the umbrella that we had. We walked a street with the shops near the cruise terminal but skipped the walk up to the nearby gardens. We wanted to get back to the ship for a cultural show that was being presented in the theatre .It was the local opera company doing portion of Madame Butterfly. The lead singer did a marvelous job during the 35 minute performance. We have not see that many people in the Princes theatre this trip. All in all a very good day despite the rain. Busan will be the last port for this portion of the trip.