It was the longest night sleeping of the voyage so far: 9 hours! We started rolling out of bed after 9am! Breakfast was being served until 10am, so I didn't miss it.
I collected the departure tickets for our group (I arrived at 9:45 and the tickets were not supposed to be distributed until 10 but so many people lined up starting at 9am, they opened the distribution early). However, later one of the leaders of a prior excursion came by with 7 tickets good for immediate departure! Hooray!!
We played the BBC World trivia game with its super hard questions. We got 7 out of 22 correct.
The foggy but flat sea conditions persisted, but eventually land showed up. The ship slowed to a stop for the pilot to board and we then resumed our sail into the Port of Nagasaki. The clouds were hanging low over the mountains surrounding this bay. There were lots of shipyards (big and small) dotting the shoreline, and we passed under a bridge.
Once docked at 1pm, we were able to get off in the first group and through immigration which includes thermal imaging, a photo, and pointy finger fingerprints plus the normal presentation of one's passport. Our guide for the 5 hour tour was Kikki and we first bought all day tram passes for 500¥ ($4.50) as we were projected to use the tram 4 times at 120¥ each. It was way more convenient to not fool around with separate tickets.
Our first tram ride to the Atom Bomb museum involved a tram transfer and a 20 minute ride. The museum (a small entrance fee) is nicely done with artifacts, movies, narrative in English and Japanese, and still photographs. It's a somber place. Nearby is the Peace Park and the marker for Ground Zero of the bomb blast. There are some very cool escalators that have a flat section in between two ascending sections. I don't recall ever seeing that design anywhere else in the world. Afterwards we reboarded the tram for a 20 minute ride back to near the ship to visit the Glover Gardens.
The entrance to the Glover Gardens is reached by cool funicular style elevator and a 3 story elevator. There is a small fee to enter the garden where one is treated to an opening view of a koi fish pond with enormous koi. One then can wander back down through the garden perched on the hillside. The Glover's residence was also part of the tour. Thomas Glover was a Scottish industrialist from the 1800's responsible for the industrial development of this area.
After this visit our group separated with part going back to the ship while my family and I took another tram ride into Nagasaki to visit a shopping arcade. We only had an hour there but it was cool to see our first Japanese shopping mall. We said goodbye to Kikki and boarded our #5 tram back to the ship.
With a quick dinner, we went to the movie, Into the Trees starring Matthew McConahie. Then we attended a piano concert before having a late snack and cool discussion with Austin, one of the male vocalists. By now it was midnight and time for bed.
Tomorrow is Kagoshima and we are doing an independent touring. Stay tuned!
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