We went to the Atomic Bomb Museum which was very interesting but also sad. In 1945 on the 9th August a bomb was dropped at 11:02 on Nagasaki destroying nearly all of the city. This was just 3 days after Hiroshima was hit.
Paper cranes in the museum.
We then found a really cute Italian restaurant for lunch.
We went to the Urakami cathedral which has been rebuilt since the bomb but has remains of the church that survived the bomb out the front. It was once the largest church in Asia.
The peace park has a HUGE monument of a man which is pointing to where the bomb came from and is holding his other hand out for peace.
There were also more paper cranes.
The peace park has many sculptures and statues that have been sent from all over the world – these are my two favourites.
There is a huge fountain in the centre of the park which has been built for all the victims of the bomb as many died of thirst in the days after the bomb went off.
The hypocentre where the bomb hit is marked by a huge black column and there are many paper cranes that are still sent there today.
We finally found the one legged torii which is left standing after the bomb destroyed the other half of it.
We then went to the the spectacles bridge which is Japan’s oldest stone bridge as it was built in 1634 by a Chinese Zen priest. When the sun is in the right position the reflection makes it look like a pair of glasses.
We then went to Temple row which is a street lined with temples and cemeteries. It was an amazing place and I loved seeing all the different temples and the cemetery was fascinating – that does sound strange but it was amazing! The cemetery had huge marble headstones but they are different to what is in Australia – they are more like shrines and they have a little cupboard to keep a broom and cloth in so it can be cleaned! The cemetery just went forever up a hill and some parts were really old with statues covered in moss. It was just an amazing, peaceful and beautiful place.
The cemetery.
We went out for dinner and tried to go out afterwards only to discover that Nagasaki wasn’t a really happening place on a Friday night!
During Golden Week it is Children's Day and people have carp flags flying at home and we saw these at a temple which had a kindergarten attached to it.
Before leaving for Fukuoka the next day we revisited temple row and saw a few temples that we didn’t get to see the day before. Some of the temples are around 350 years old and many were founded by
Chinese priests.
I really enjoyed Nagasaki!
2 comments:
Geez we did do a lot when we went away hey? Spectacles Bridge was my favourite.
Nagasaki is definately worth a look! I loved seeing all those beautiful shrines and temples. I am so glad we got to go to Nagasaki.
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