Sunday in the park with art

 

November 24 2024

Nagoya, Japan

What a night ! When I was on this ship from Alaska to Tokyo, across the North Pacific. I saw some seasickness bags out on the balustrades for the stairs, two or three times. I asked myself if that seemed a bit overkill for the nothing we were experiencing. Last night the ship was rocking and even on as low as deck 7, it was difficult to walk a straight line. The wind was so hard that when the ship would break a wave that the crest of the wave would reach above my room on 11. I fear to imagine how it was on the outside of 12 or 13. The morning came and balcony was glittering in the morning light with salt crystals on the table and railing.

Dinner was another missed memory. It was food. The novel I am reading was better than the meal. After supper, my tummy rebelled. I think there was cream in the sauce, it couldn’t have been a light case of seasickness.

Rebellious stomach or not, I was not going to leave this ship without leaving the $20 I set aside for gambling behind. No one was playing so I had the entire table to myself, again. I threw dice and made bets and more of those clay things kept coming back to me. Listen ship ! I brought you this money and you won’t take it. You are so fickle. I gave the ship a chance to eat the twenty and left with $40. Over all my 20 has made me a seventy in profit. The crew doesn’t know that their tips are all gambling money.

While I was ‘tossing the bones’. Wanda and her husband came over. She said she didn’t know how to play, but she tossed her chip on the Pass line and backed it up with Odds. That is not a neophyte. Then, she tossed a chip to the box girl and said “Seven the hard way!”. We all stopped speechless. There is no way you can ever get a ‘hard’ with an odd number. Maybe she wasn’t fibbing about not knowing how to play. After I left they continued to play and came away in the $300 area to the positive.

Back in the room, I turned out the lights and watch the spray get carried back into the darkness.

Morning came and the usual routine, breakfast, coffee, shower, and then down to deck 4 to touch dirt again. The ship is like 10 miles from the city of Nagoya proper. This is one of the things that keep me from ocean cruising. River cruising, you are right in the city. Shuttle bus to the train station and with the SUICA app it really is convenient to just rest my watch on the IC receiver and have the gates open. Then at the end, repeat and the ride is paid for.

I wanted to add to my shrine sticker collection, and Apple Maps said ride this train until I tell you to get off. Mole your way through the tunnels and when you smell fresh air, turn left and catch the number 2 bus. Go nine stops and there you are! I did and I was! Pure magic.

Then came the wrong turns, on my part. I made the best of it by buying a refill of my Kleenex stash. The 7-11 is laid out a little different than the last one. Just as I find the right aisle, I hear “Hi! It’s Margaret”. A ship mate who is part of the veterans cadre. They had a private guide so I tagged along for 10 minutes, until their guide shut up, so I could ask him where the stamp shop. He took a breath and pointed the basic direction I needed to forge ahead to. Sayonara, Margaret, et al.

I made one slight error, but it was quickly resolved by a Shinto priest. There was a line, but not enough of one, to trigger my line allergy. Two stampers and writers moved the line quickly. Soon I had my 3rd Shrine Autograph. It’s kind of a fun game.

Sunday in the park, everyone was at the shrine. I don’t understand how a 16th century warlord praying at this location to win a battle and winning, makes it a place to bring your children to be blessed for health. Age one, three and five? Seem to be the most appropriate. Parents in modern suits and dresses, the kids in traditional garb, girls in Kimono looking cute. Not totally into this photograph thing. It might take half a dozen camera snaps to catch someone not looking at her sandals.

Next stop Nagoya Castle. Tell me what to do Apple Maps I’ll follow you anywhere. Cross a couple streets, catch the bus, go 8 stops and Castle! I spring onto the bus with the confidence and arielist and take my seat. Exactly like the first bus, crowded, some standing, so many people on the bus …. Not a sound from then. No whispers, no phone app games, absolute silence. It was flippin’ eerie.

So I’m counting stops and am up to six and everyone gets off and the bus driver says “End of the line” in his best Japanese. I ain’t seeing no castle. I step off the bus and look at maps the castle is so far away it’s almost off the map. One of us made a major error, Mr. Maps!

Let’s try this again, only Mr. Maps is on strike and refuses to change his first suggestion. I tried refresh, reload, erase and a new entry. Apple Maps refuses to budge. Fine I know how to call a taxi on the Go app. Go suck an egg Mr.Maps, I’ll spend a tall building ride to get there.

The taxi got me to the entrance, and in past cities the grounds of the castle are free and admission to the structure proper was where the cost was. This castle had several very long Sunday lines to get to the ticket kiosk. I rolled that against my line intolerance and then spied the castle through the gate. This one looked nearly exactly as the previous ones, except instead of being perched atop of an aerie, it looked to like it had been set in the middle of a military parade ground. With those three things, seeing a replica castle make it so have other sights to see and places to go.

I made my way to the Tokugawa Art Museum. Art museums generally not on my tour-do list, but this one was supposed to be great, and on top of that there is a national heritage scroll from the 1400’s that is on display only a few weeks in late November, and now is late November. At the ticket booth I put the required 1400 Yen in the tray. The woman asked me “Are you over 65?” - yes. She picked up 200 and handed them back to me. Seems there are discounts for under 12 and over 65. Better than the 10% Lowe’s gives veterans.

Stepping into the subdued lighting of the museum the first thing you face is a set of samurai armor. It was indeed a piece of art. Black gleaming and fearsome. One side of the room were muzzle lading rifles, on the opposite swords. Just the blades, no handles. Some were designed to be worn on the left and some the right. The way to tell was that the sword maker would put his makers mark on one side of the other, depending.

Around the corner was the afore mentioned scroll. It was cool, though the vast symbology of it was not for me to fully understand. More art, actual art and then ‘Exit through the gift shop’. The t-shirts only went to L.

Again Maps app sent we a very odd way, instead of a more linear way. Zig- zag, instead of straights and a occasional turn. But me and map had made up and it got me to the right station. Ride this train to the main station, change to a different line and ride to the end. Simple, and it was mostly. The central station in Nagoya is a piker in relation to the one in Tokyo. I’m going to need to keep my training wheels on a while longer before I’m ready for the big kid ride of Tokyo central.

Now back on the ship. Finishing this up after dinner. Now packing is the next chore.