Friday, May 16
San Nichi: Kumamoto
It would have been a glorious six hours of sleep if not for the waking up at 2:30 for no reason. Maybe my body was freaking out, it didn't know what to do with all that rest.Woke up early, ate our complimentary breakfast and stumbled to the train station. Caught the Shinkansen to Kumamoto. Well, almost all the way to Kumamoto. The Shinkansen tracks haven't all been built yet, so we had to transfer to a limited express train for the last 20 minutes or so. Which is too bad because this morning's Shinkansen was one of the nicest ones we have been on. Nicely styled.
All Japanese and such.
Kumamoto station is not as nice as Kagoshima station.
We dumped our stuff at our hotel and grabbed a tram out to Suizenji Jojuen park. It was a nice little park, but not as peaceful or serene as we expected. Could be due to all the tour groups tromping through. They were loud. And the sun was hot. The longer we were there for, the less verdant everything seemed to become. It was nice and green when we first got there, though.
I was disappointed in the miniature Fuji.
After that we trammed over to Kumamoto castle.
Kumamoto castle is big. Maybe it's the sunstroke talking, but I think Kumamoto castle is easily the biggest Japanese castle we have been to. The walls were massive and sloping and intimidating. And there were a lot of them.
The castle burned down during the Meiji era and was rebuilt so that it looks the same from the outside but is a museum on the inside. Much like Osaka castle. Unlike the Osaka castle grounds, however, there are many other buildings to tour. Some of them are surviving originals and some are reproductions, but they are all worth a visit. Those Japanese carpenters, man, they really knew their stuff.
We walked from the castle to the shopping/dining district, looking for something to eat. Preferably something local. After a nigh-endless hunger march, we found a place that served Kumamoto ramen. I have no idea what distinguishes Kumamoto ramen from any other ramen noodle soup, but it was tasty. Carla ordered the spicy cold Korean noodles. They were super tasty. The noodles were nice and chewy, the vegetables were crisp and crunchy, and it was all refreshingly cold. Except spicy. One of the very few instances in this country of something that is warned as being spicy actually being so.
I ate way more than I needed to so that that would be the last meal of the day. So now we are in our room. I am typing up today and Carla is reading over the last two days and fixing my many splendid mistakes.
One more thing: HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHIKO!!! Sorry we had to leave before we could celebrate with you.
