After leaving Kyoto we took a taxi to the cruise ship terminal. I don’t want to say things in Japan are expensive but the taxi ride of about 45 minutes cost us about $225 US. Yikes. Remember, I live in a small town so I thought for sure they said that incorrectly. But, no, it was $225. On the upside…they do not accept tips in Japan. Not the waitress, not the gentleman who took all of our bags to the hotel room and not the taxi driver. Interesting. Our first stop on this cruise was Nagasaki, Japan.
This cruise was organized by Quilt Seminars at Sea quiltcruises.com (Check out the cruise for next year to Tahiti in May. It’s going to be awesome!)
The teachers on this cruise where from left to right, Sue Nickles www.sue-nickels.com, Paula Nadelstern http://www.paulanadelstern.com and me. On the far right is Pat Holly, Sue’s sister.
Here are a few photos I took as we walked in town.
One of the places we decided to investigate was Glover Gardens. The Japanese are very serious about their gardens. They were beautiful and calming. A great place to relax and catch your breath.
Come on…a real turtle on a fake turtle. Very cool.
A view of Nagasaki from Glover Gardens.
We also took our own little tour of a temple on one end of town. Amidst all the ciaos you find these peaceful temples.
Of all the temples we visited this is the only one where the statues have any attire.
Cool bug. I can see him in one of my quilts!!
And of course…there was a Starbucks at just about every stop. Gotta like that. Even though I could not speak the language I was able to get my chai tea latte without too much trouble.
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During the long flight I had lots of time to read. My assistant, Lynn Stine, recommended reading Vince Flynn. She recommended starting with his first book. So I did. Term Limits was published in 1997 but still felt current. I really liked the characters in this book and the plot. In the beginning of the book three powerful politicians are killed in very different ways. The CIA and FBI are working to find the killers who they believe are elite military. I will definitely read more of Vince Flynn’s books.
Next stop on the cruise…….Beijing.