Let there be peace....

Our primary goal in Nagasaki was to see the Atomic Bomb museum and ground zero. We had no idea that Nagasaki was so beautiful! It was a warm day and Nagasaki sits on a beautiful harbor surrounded by hills covered with trees and bright blue sky overhead. The entry to the harbor is spanned by a suspension bridge similar to the Golden Gate Bridge...it is stunning!

Nagasaki has street cars, so we jumped aboard and headed for the museum. It was a powerful and emotional experience, it affected all of us a great deal. Every single person in the world should visit this site.

The museum is next to the Peace Park which sits atop a hill just next to the epicenter of the bombing. Nagasaki requested peace statues and memorials from all of the cities in the world and many cities and countries donated artistic sculptures and statues that have been placed in this park.

It is beautiful to see the contributions of the entire world. The main peace statute was created by the city of Nagasaki and sits in the center of the park. Alongside the statue are long strings of paper cranes that were made by school children and strung together. There are thousands and thousands of the paper cranes, again representing peace and they are beautiful.

After wandering around the park we went to the museum itself. The people of Nagasaki have done a great job with the museum and I felt that their historical facts and coverage of the events leading up to the bombing was very balanced and matter of fact. The toll of the atomic bomb was incalculable, 73,000 people killed instantly, 74,000 seriously wounded, the entire city was leveled. Some of the most powerful photos in the exhibit are those that show the shadow effect.

In one a ladder was leaning against a building at the time of the blast. The ladder was incinerated at such heat that it left a shadow on the wall. The ladder is gone and only a black shadow remains. The last section of the museum contains an exhibit of the efforts of Nagasaki and the Japanese people to stop the proliferation of nuclear bombs. It is a life mission for them and it should be for all of us.

As we left the museum our Aussie friends wanted to know more about the war and the events leading up to the bombing and we talked at length about the war. It was an emotional day and it left us all feeling like we should pray every single day for peace.

After leaving the museum we went to the Chinatown section of Nagasaki and walked through the market.

After our bargains in Shanghai we did not find the prices very attractive. We found a restaurant for some lunch....and ate Chinese food in Japan. The meal was ok, much more expensive than China, and not as delicious.

We wandered around Nagasaki for several more hours and enjoyed the groups of school kids yelling out "Hello" to us as they passed, when we said "Hello" back they would all giggle and giggle.

Brian and I agreed that Nagasaki is a place we would return to, it is beautiful and we barely scratched the surface.

We have only one more day at sea and then we leave the ship for 4 days in Beijing!