Saturday, April 12, 2014

Nagoya Castle

Saturday, 2014-04-12:
Rode bicycle to the supermarket with Teddy in the front pack and Charlette sitting on the handlebars. Stopped at a 7-11 on the way; Charlette picked out a pack of bean rolls (bread on the outside, some kind of bean paste on the inside). Got to the grocers a half hour before they opened. Walked around the block a few times. Saw a couple of dogs, which Charlette was excited about. She also scraped her knee from falling off the curb. Ate all four bean rolls before the market opened.  Brought back two large bags of groceries, including some sushi rolls for lunch.

Got home. Ate pancakes that Anna made. Packed everyone up and took the subway to Nagoya Castle Park. Walked around the park a bit.
Beautiful flowers


Talked to an old guy (86 years) who remembers seeing the bomber during WWII that burned down the old Nagoya Castle. Thanked us for buying lots of war supplies from Toyota (where he worked) during the Korean War. Kids got free balloon animals.


Baloon... Flowers?

Wandered around the park some more. The water fountains here are all made of large granite blocks with the spigot sticking out the top. They have threaded valves instead of spring return ones, so you can leave them running as long as you like. Even so, I've never seen one running unattended.
Slid Teddy down the slide at the playground, which he didn't particularly like. Sat at some benches and ate sushi. There was an older man playing a large drum, which we could hear from quite a distance. We found him nearby where we ate lunch. A couple hundred meters away there was a flute player as well.
The castle moat, now mostly filled in.

Exterior of the castle wall, with overgrown moat.


Bought a couple roast sausages at a street vendor just at the entrance to the castle complex. Went inside the walls.
Featured here is the slowest walker, and Paul in the distance

Bought a couple of roast sausages at a street vendor just at the entrance to the castle complex. $3 each, but pretty large. Everyone seemed to think they were well worth it. Went inside the walls and ate at the gate house.

Bought some ice-cream cones once we were inside. Tasted like real cream, instead of the US standard frozen yogurt. Walked around the beautiful gardens, toured the inside of the restored castle, wandered around a little bit more. By this point we were all pretty tired, so we nipped in to the gift shop and then headed home.

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