A Trip To Fukuoka Art Museum (Part One)

 Yesterday, Christopher, Hannah, and I visited the Fukuoka Art Museum to see an exhibit on Ancient Egypt, on loan from the Brooklyn Museum.

It was a day of adventures, mistakes and lots of walking. Lots and lots and LOTS of walking! According to the fitness app on my phone, I did over 10,000 steps, which is a lot of walking!

Because none of us can drive, we had to use public transportation. In Kurume and Fukuoka, public transportation is good but very busy, especially on weekends and holidays. Also, just make it more of an adventure; we were using the Nishitetsu line, not the JR line that we are used to.

On the way to the platform, we came across these interesting vending machines. Not for drinks this time.

The one on the right is selling donburi, rice bowls with different toppings.

The orange machine made fresh orange juice.

We had to wait for a few minutes for the train, so we went to the food court. This is the view from the food court.

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Overlooking the city and the bus station

Our first mistake was to get on the limited express train, which only stops at a few stations. Standing room only! I don't mind standing, no choice, but it takes about 40 minutes, also, where I was standing was near where the carriages connected, which made me feel unsafe. Luckily one station where we stopped, we could change to the local train, the one that stops at every station. Since we weren't in a rush, we decided to do that.

I asked Hannah to get a video out of the window. It's not that good, as the windows were rather dirty, but you can catch a glimpse of the towns we went past.

And yes, that's our reflection!

Once we got to Fukuoka, the adventure began. Why does Google Maps make everything look so easy? Why do I believe Hannah when she says it's just a five-minute walk? I should have learnt by now that Google Maps and reality are different, and Hannah's five minutes are a lot longer.

The Tenjin Station is massive. I haven't been there for many years, over twenty years maybe. There are so many shops, including big department stores and loads of smaller stores, cafes and restaurants. 

We had to get out to find the bus stop to go to the museum. It took a while to find an exit. I didn't realise that the train tracks weren't on the ground floor, so we had to go down to get out.

The next thing was to find the bus stop; there were a lot of bus stops. Hannah walked ahead to see if she could find the right one.

We took a little video of the area. I really like the street furnishings; there's always something interesting to see.

Once we found the bus stop, we only had to wait a few minutes for the bus.

The bus went past Fukuoka Castle, the stop was near one part of the castle. I hope to be able to go and see Fukuoka Castle in the future. 

Interesting artwork, it's a person!

Views of Fukuoka Castle from the bus

Once we got off, there was another walk. About 10 minutes walk. At least it was scenic, and there weren't many people.

Part of Fukuoka Castle

Near the museum is a shrine that has these massive tori.

Somebody is walking through the gate; you can see just how big it is!

I've been working on this for over an hour now! I'm still tired from yesterday, I'll write more tomorrow!