Kumamoto for the day...

Sunday, May 18, 2014
Kumamoto

So we're off to Kumamoto...it's only a little over a half hour train ride from Hakata if you take the Shinkansen.  The rail pass covers it, so, yay!  We get to ride in comfort!  I slept most of the way.  So what else is new?

I didn't really plan to come here today so we went straight to the the visitor information booth.  Since we had to take the tram to Kumamoto Castle anyways, the girl at the desk recommended that we get the day bus/tram pass for 500¥ and it also gives you a discount to certain attractions.  We got 100¥ off at the Castle!  Normally it's 500¥ to get in.

When you walk out of the station the tram stop is just a few feet away

 

Cute yah, my water bottle!

Don't worry about missing your stop, they'll announce it in English that you've arrived at the castle.  Take a short walk up to the entrance...it's a pretty view!

I was watching these Chinese tourists doing the jumping thing...they failed terribly...

I was wondering where all my pics went from today then I remembered that we used Randy's camera for most of the time.  And crap.  His phone took some nice pics!

Not far from the castle we noticed that there was some kind of festival going on.  There was beer and food so we were there!  Of course the beer table was his first stop...

I tasted so many samples I didn't have to eat lunch!  Oh and by the way, if you're planning on gong to one of the arcades on a Sunday then don't even bother.  It was  practically dead!

Since we had the city pass we hopped back on the tram and headed for Suizenji Park.  It was a bit far, maybe a dozen stops or so, so I took a little nap :)

This place was really pretty

He was trying to get the koi to suck  on his finger.  Gross.

This was hilarious.  We jumped back on the tram to go back to the station so Randy sat by the two little girls.  You shoulda seen them jump and squish themselves as far away from him as possible! I was cracking up!

Dinner for tonight!

Off to a much needed soak in the onsen tomorrow.  I hope everything goes smoothly!