I asked Hannah to find a place for lunch before we went on Saturday. I know that trying to find a place when we are out ends up with a lot more walking! She found a Burger King nearby. Plus a Cat Bookshop. Of course, we had to check out the Cat Bookshop.
To get to the bookshop, we had to meander through a nice little neighbourhood, full of quaint houses, little shops and cafes.
There weren't many cars, but a lot of foot traffic.
One of the little alleyways.
A cafe.
A Turkish cafe.
A sign for the Cat Bookshop
The alleyway where the bookshop is.
The Cat Bookshop.
On the wall outside the bookshop.
We couldn't take photos inside, which is a shame. I was surprised at the number of books available on cats. Most were in Japanese, a few English ones and a couple of them in other European languages. I guess cats are popular worldwide.
Christopher bought me a book. I'll post about it later.
After the Cat Bookshop, we walked another 10 minutes to find Burger King.
This sign was on the door.
Funny!
Burger King was packed. It was lunch time, and it looked like there were a lot of orders for the Uber Eats delivery service.
We had to wait for about 20 minutes, which I was very happy about, a chance to sit down for a bit!
Lunch
I had a simple set, Christopher and Hannah had a bigger set meal. Not only a burger and fries, but chicken nuggets and apple pie as well!
While we were waiting for our meal, Hannah showed me what she had bought at the museum.
How to write hieroglyphics and a soft toy
After lunch, we went back to the station to do some shopping. I'll try to write that up over the next couple of days. I have to make lunch now!
One thing that I like about Japan is the way the old and the new go together seamlessly.
Opposite the Fukuoka Art Museum is a shrine with a stunning tori gate. This shrine was founded in 1749. Next door is the NHK broadcasting studio, which was built in 1992.
The tori gate
The NHK building
In the top photo, you can just catch a glimpse of the building through the trees on the right. It shouldn't work, but somehow it does!
We finally made it to the museum.
The exhibit we went to see.
Interesting sculpture outside the museum
The museum is also a newer building. It was built in 1979 but has undergone many renovations; the last one was in 2019.
One thing I was very happy to find was a place to sit down. Walking is still hard on my back and legs (but easier than a year ago!), having somewhere to sit for a few minutes really helps!
It was 2000 yen to enter, about £10, not too bad!
We could take photos of the exhibits, no flash photos, though, so some photos are a bit dark.
The hair on this piece is amazing; it looked really textured.
This made me smile.
The colours don't show up well in the photo, but they were very vivid.
Of course, we found a cat.
Egyptian cat.
A model of an Egyptian Temple.
An Eygptian Mummy, you can still see a bit of the cloth.
We were able to get a photo there as well.
Hannah, me and Christopher.
We spent over an hour looking around. It was very good, very well laid out. It was very busy, though, but not crazy!
We left the museum to find a cat bookshop and some lunch.
That will have to wait until the next post. I'm having problems with pop-ups. I've tried many things to stop them, but they just keep coming. I'll have to get some help later.
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.
,
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!
