Things to do in Niigata
Last weekend we went on the Shinano River Cruise so see Niigata city. We were able to see more cherry blossoms
along the riverside as well as tulips.
Everyone got off at the last stop of the cruise so we thought maybe
there might be something to see – despite it being about 12 degrees – so we
followed the crowd over a hill to find a million people (approx.) looking at
tulips and an indoor food marketplace. See photos.
We also visited the Former
Ozawa Family Residence – an ornate house and garden donated to the city by
the wealthy family owners. See photos of
Eddie jumping on the garden stepping stones.
For yummy baked goods and designer clothes we went to the Mitsukoshi department store near
Niigata Station. We actually only went in to use the baby change room
facilities, which were great too.
We got our new car delivered to our house on Friday. Toyota
Wish. The GPS is great but all in
Japanese. Jim figured out how to enter the phone number of our destination into
the GPS and then the map takes us there. Great when we can’t read and write
Kanji, so good bye Mr Bus driver J
The used car salesman brought it to our house after preparing the two weeks’
worth of paperwork required to register the car J
Jim showed us around the Uni campus last week and we braved the midday lunch rush. Basically let the crowd move you onto a
coloured line on the cafeteria floor and hope it ends up at some food you would
like to eat. There are three cafeterias on our campus plus a bakery and half a
dozen cafes/convenience stores.
27/4/14 – 3/5/14
This weekend we drove North to Senami to stay in an onsen ryokan called Taikanso on the Japan
sea. The sun sets on the ocean so it’s
very popular to soak your feet in the natural hot springs while watching the
sun go down. The dinner was really good. They had a large Moses basket on
stilts for Charlie to sit in while I ate dinner. The women’s public bath in the hotel was
awesome. Rows of dimly lit dressing tables and an indoor and outdoor thermal
spring hot pools. We had yakuta (light
cotton dressing gowns) to wear while in the hotel travelling between hot spring
baths, dinner and our room. Check out Eddie in the photos.
On the way to the Onsen we went to see the Tainai Tulip Festival. So many
beautiful tulips. Eddie was covered in
yellow pollen after a spill in the rape seed field (which reads Happy Wedding
from the air). You could dig your
favourite tulips up too and take them home. They had some good food stalls
too. Open
We also stopped in a memorial
park where Eddie played in the shallow pools with tulip floats… and got
drenched!
Yesterday we had a look at the Wakabayashi house where the family of Samurai lived. We also saw
the Murakami History Museum which
keeps the some of the historic floats for the Murakami festival, samurai swords
& armour. On the way home we spotted a dinosaur in a park that turned out to
be a slippery dip.
Today we went to Triple
Kids Café in Niigata which is next to the aquarium and has indoor slides,
trampoline and toys for little kids while you eat lunch. Kids get in free if they eat there too or
it’s 150 yen per half hour – about $1.50!
We then took the kids to the Niigata Aquarium for a look at the dolphins, sea lions, tropical
salt water fish etc. Well worth the visit, plus it had a kiddie soft play area
and slide before you go home. Eddie and Charlie both slept on the way home in
the car J
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