Eighth Post 10/9 to 10/11
October 9th - Tuesday, Yokohama - HOT 85* - 90#
Finally, I can say - "Hello Again".
We have had 27 days of fun and adventures, and no time to get to post them. The plan was to use the ship's Internet connection only when necessary and to use port Wi-Fi all other times. As most plans, do, this one had flaws. Many ports did not have wi-fi with Internet connections, or many times we were not at the port long enough to connect and use it, So I have a lot of catching up to do.
This is our last of 3 days in Yokohama with sailing set for 6 PM. We have the option of going ashore on our own, taking a short tour or staying on the ship. We tried to get on a tour to Tokyo, but it was already sold out, so we opted for a short walk on the pier, which turned out to be a loooong walk in terrible heat! We did take our pictures of feet standing on Japan.
Went to Internet Cafe but the satellite was down. While we waited, we talked to a couple only to find out the man was from Holmes Avenue in Jersey city - 3 blocks from my street, Hawthorne Avenue, They now live in Delaware but had many memories of Jersey City.
Had lunch with a very nice and fun couple from Louisiana, Beverly, and Julian. Read for a while, went back to cabin took a short nap and off to dinner. We did sail at 6:30 pm, so were at sea for a nice roast beef dinner. We skipped the live show and watched a Melissa McCarthy movie - Mother Goes to College (or something like that). Cute!
October 10th - At Sea - Very HOT again
Sat with Suzie and John at breakfast - always fun to be with them.
Went out to the pool, which finally had water in it. It had been too rough or cold to fill before this. As a matter of fact, this is the first time on this cruise that I was able to wear shorts. I had on my white gauze blouse with a big blue anchor on front; navy shorts with small white anchors all over; and my blue/white anchor watch with blue stud earrings with anchors on them. Got compliments from friends, crew members and strangers all day. I was a fashion HIT!
Played trivia at 12:30 pm - got 13 out of 29 right! Not doing as well as we thought we would.
I went to the cabin to get my tablet, and Dan said he would meet me there. Naturally, he disappeared. I finally found him watching a game in the Atrium -- WTH?????
I saw dolphins swimming alongside the ship, just before I took my nap.
We are sorry we missed going to Osaka, but are really looking forward to Hiroshima tomorrow. Packed our bag - water, cameras, hats, hard candy, tissues, identification, itinerary, maps, etc. Good thing I use the walker on all tours just so I can use it to sit on when we stop for a while, and to have the pocket to put our bag in instead if carrying it everywhere.
We had a delicious brisket dinner and went to the show - a comedian who was so-so - used lots of puns!
October 11th - HIROSHIMA, JAPAN - cool and rainy and then warm and rainy
As we pulled into the harbor, there were fireboats spraying various patterns as a greeting. So nice to see that,
We met our tour group and guide and left right on time. The guide was very good. Hiroshima is a very pretty setting - surrounded by mountains, lots of greenery, small Japanese style homes "mushed" in with high rise condos. Guide told us they call the condos "Mansions" because the rooms are so much larger than in a private house. House typically have only 3 rooms - living room, kitchen and dining room. The dining and Living rooms are turned into bedrooms at night.
The entire district is dedicated to Peace! Guide told of the devastation after the bomb, the survivors' guilt suffered by many, and lack of information they had about the effects of an atomic bomb. She never mentioned the leaflets we dropped before the bombing. But she explained that they thought it would be 70 to 80 years before greenery would grow, but trees started coming back within one year. She told of cases of leukemia and other cancers that did not always occur right away but would affect people 10 to 15 years later.
We had very, very heavy traffic (stop and go) on the way into the city, so had time for her stories. her parents and aunts worked in Hiroshima and commuted in every day. That day the changed train tickets with a young man and were set to take a later train to work - they missed the bomb. She said her mother has just started talking about that day recently.
Our first stop in Hiroshima was at the "Dome" the only building to survive the blast. e went to the Children's Memorial, started by a young girl who was told that her leukemia would be cured and there would be a lasting peace if she created 1,000 Origami birds. She did it but did not survive. Other children heard her story and started sending thousands of these paper birds to the city from all of Japan and then the World. This is the site created to display a small part of the birds that continue to arrive to this day. We watched as 2 groups of school children did a presentation of the birds they had made. Very moving after all these years.
We then went to the Peace Bell which Dan rang, along with others. Nearby was the Atomic Clock which chimes every day at 8:15 a.m., the time the bomb was dropped. We then went to the Hiroshima Museum - very dramatic exhibits of the city before, during and after the blast.
This is what we learned, that few of us knew: 1) Tokyo was not chosen as a target because too many people would have been devastated. 2) Hiroshima was the 11th largest city in Japan and therefore a good target. 3) The actual target was located by the bombardier, using only his sight. 4) The target was a bridge that formed a "T" and was easy to spot. 5) because the city had mountains on 3 sides, it was easy for our planes to come in undetected until the last minute. 6) Hiroshima was a very large Japanese military base and finally 7) 12 American Prisoners of War were killed in the attack.
At the museum, I was able to get internet access and called Courtney - Luckily she and Ryan are night owls and were still awake after midnight to take the call. It was very exciting to talk to them.
After this tour, we had to wait on the pier for Japanese Customs Officials to arrive to clear us to return to the ship. I was able to help another couple use "Messenger" to call their son. I felt so good that I knew how to do that. ha ha
Watched a movie in the afternoon - the Hollars (??) - nice enough movie, but the mother dies at the end - not my usual Hallmark Movie ending! We missed dinner (slept through it) - too much walking knocked us both out!
more to come.
Finally, I can say - "Hello Again".
We have had 27 days of fun and adventures, and no time to get to post them. The plan was to use the ship's Internet connection only when necessary and to use port Wi-Fi all other times. As most plans, do, this one had flaws. Many ports did not have wi-fi with Internet connections, or many times we were not at the port long enough to connect and use it, So I have a lot of catching up to do.
This is our last of 3 days in Yokohama with sailing set for 6 PM. We have the option of going ashore on our own, taking a short tour or staying on the ship. We tried to get on a tour to Tokyo, but it was already sold out, so we opted for a short walk on the pier, which turned out to be a loooong walk in terrible heat! We did take our pictures of feet standing on Japan.
Went to Internet Cafe but the satellite was down. While we waited, we talked to a couple only to find out the man was from Holmes Avenue in Jersey city - 3 blocks from my street, Hawthorne Avenue, They now live in Delaware but had many memories of Jersey City.
Had lunch with a very nice and fun couple from Louisiana, Beverly, and Julian. Read for a while, went back to cabin took a short nap and off to dinner. We did sail at 6:30 pm, so were at sea for a nice roast beef dinner. We skipped the live show and watched a Melissa McCarthy movie - Mother Goes to College (or something like that). Cute!
October 10th - At Sea - Very HOT again
Sat with Suzie and John at breakfast - always fun to be with them.
Went out to the pool, which finally had water in it. It had been too rough or cold to fill before this. As a matter of fact, this is the first time on this cruise that I was able to wear shorts. I had on my white gauze blouse with a big blue anchor on front; navy shorts with small white anchors all over; and my blue/white anchor watch with blue stud earrings with anchors on them. Got compliments from friends, crew members and strangers all day. I was a fashion HIT!
Played trivia at 12:30 pm - got 13 out of 29 right! Not doing as well as we thought we would.
I went to the cabin to get my tablet, and Dan said he would meet me there. Naturally, he disappeared. I finally found him watching a game in the Atrium -- WTH?????
I saw dolphins swimming alongside the ship, just before I took my nap.
We are sorry we missed going to Osaka, but are really looking forward to Hiroshima tomorrow. Packed our bag - water, cameras, hats, hard candy, tissues, identification, itinerary, maps, etc. Good thing I use the walker on all tours just so I can use it to sit on when we stop for a while, and to have the pocket to put our bag in instead if carrying it everywhere.
We had a delicious brisket dinner and went to the show - a comedian who was so-so - used lots of puns!
October 11th - HIROSHIMA, JAPAN - cool and rainy and then warm and rainy
As we pulled into the harbor, there were fireboats spraying various patterns as a greeting. So nice to see that,
We met our tour group and guide and left right on time. The guide was very good. Hiroshima is a very pretty setting - surrounded by mountains, lots of greenery, small Japanese style homes "mushed" in with high rise condos. Guide told us they call the condos "Mansions" because the rooms are so much larger than in a private house. House typically have only 3 rooms - living room, kitchen and dining room. The dining and Living rooms are turned into bedrooms at night.
The entire district is dedicated to Peace! Guide told of the devastation after the bomb, the survivors' guilt suffered by many, and lack of information they had about the effects of an atomic bomb. She never mentioned the leaflets we dropped before the bombing. But she explained that they thought it would be 70 to 80 years before greenery would grow, but trees started coming back within one year. She told of cases of leukemia and other cancers that did not always occur right away but would affect people 10 to 15 years later.
We had very, very heavy traffic (stop and go) on the way into the city, so had time for her stories. her parents and aunts worked in Hiroshima and commuted in every day. That day the changed train tickets with a young man and were set to take a later train to work - they missed the bomb. She said her mother has just started talking about that day recently.
Our first stop in Hiroshima was at the "Dome" the only building to survive the blast. e went to the Children's Memorial, started by a young girl who was told that her leukemia would be cured and there would be a lasting peace if she created 1,000 Origami birds. She did it but did not survive. Other children heard her story and started sending thousands of these paper birds to the city from all of Japan and then the World. This is the site created to display a small part of the birds that continue to arrive to this day. We watched as 2 groups of school children did a presentation of the birds they had made. Very moving after all these years.
We then went to the Peace Bell which Dan rang, along with others. Nearby was the Atomic Clock which chimes every day at 8:15 a.m., the time the bomb was dropped. We then went to the Hiroshima Museum - very dramatic exhibits of the city before, during and after the blast.
This is what we learned, that few of us knew: 1) Tokyo was not chosen as a target because too many people would have been devastated. 2) Hiroshima was the 11th largest city in Japan and therefore a good target. 3) The actual target was located by the bombardier, using only his sight. 4) The target was a bridge that formed a "T" and was easy to spot. 5) because the city had mountains on 3 sides, it was easy for our planes to come in undetected until the last minute. 6) Hiroshima was a very large Japanese military base and finally 7) 12 American Prisoners of War were killed in the attack.
At the museum, I was able to get internet access and called Courtney - Luckily she and Ryan are night owls and were still awake after midnight to take the call. It was very exciting to talk to them.
After this tour, we had to wait on the pier for Japanese Customs Officials to arrive to clear us to return to the ship. I was able to help another couple use "Messenger" to call their son. I felt so good that I knew how to do that. ha ha
Watched a movie in the afternoon - the Hollars (??) - nice enough movie, but the mother dies at the end - not my usual Hallmark Movie ending! We missed dinner (slept through it) - too much walking knocked us both out!
more to come.
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