Kagoshima Trip (Part Three)

 One problem with this trip was the weather, or rather, the forecast.

On Thursday, when we checked the weather for Kagoshima, rain was forecast for all of Saturday, so we changed plans and decided to visit museums on Saturday and the cat shrine on Sunday.

But when we woke up on Saturday, it was cloudy, but there were patches of blue sky. Checking the app again, we saw that it had rained earlier and no more rain was forecast until late afternoon. Great, back to the original plan.

We had breakfast and headed out to get a city tour bus. This bus stops at all the main tourist sites, a great service. There's a day pass, which we didn't know about, so you can hop on and off the bus. If I ever have a chance to go to Kagoshima again, that is something I would do.

A few places we stopped at.

The Kagoshima City Museum Of Art

The Kagoshima City Cultural Hall

We passed a lot of interesting places. 

After the city, the bus went up the mountains, as there are a few historical places to visit there. The whole time, the places we were passing were explained in Japanese and English. I was very impressed by the driver's ability to handle a bus on the narrow, steep mountain roads.

Hannah took this video.

Unfortunately, as we were getting close to the stop that we planned to get off at, it started to rain. Hannah checked the bus route and saw that it would stop at an aquarium a stop later. We considered staying on the bus, but the guy behind us was making us feel sick; he kept hacking and burping- really disgusting. We got off and went to Starbucks to wait for the rain to stop.

I love how Starbucks can make their stores blend into the area; they never seem to stand out.

This was the Starbucks. 

Really beautiful building that looks similar to other buildings in the area.

This is only the second time that I've been to Starbucks. I never know what to order, so I got a Matcha Latte; Hannah got some kind of coffee and a scone.

Starbucks order.

The rain finally stopped, so we went to the Sengan-en Gardens. These gardens belonged to the Shimadzu family. They have a wonderful view of Sakurajima, the volcano and Kinko Bay.

Near the entrance of Sengan-en Gardens, Sakurajima is in the background.

Part of the gardens had the ruins of an iron foundry. 

Apparently, this area was the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in Japan during the Meiji Era.

Part of the old iron furnace: a reverberatory furnace. 

A few more photos from the gardens.

Souvenir shops and cafes.

The old gate.

These were fascinating; how did they manage to balance the stones?

Hannah, with Sakarjima behind.

This pavilion was a gift from the Ryukyu king, now Okinawa

That's all I have time for today!

I hope to write more tomorrow.