Day #12, April 12th: Hakata

7:00 Free Toyoko Inn breakfast

We learned that it's a good idea to go just as they begin serving so you can get a good table and not have to wait in a long buffet line.


8:00  We left for the Kumamoto Train Station and got to our reserved seats on the Shinkansen (bullet train) for Hakata, also known as Fukuoka.

This was one of the super duper shinkansen trains that had just been inaugurated in March, 2012.

Once in Hakata we caught a subway train, transferred to another one and arrived at the Komyozenji Temple to see their rock gardens.  There is one in the front and one in the back.

This is a zen temple so mom found it a comforting place to be.



The inside of the temple is very plain and a place for calm reflection.



The back of the temple was beautiful and peaceful.

 
After leaving the temple we were surprised to see some homes had orange trees in the backyard already bearing fruit.

We walked a short distance to the Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine.
I got the following from the Fukuoka/Hakata Tourism site.

The shrine is dedicated to Sugawara Michizane who is known as the god of learning, it is busy all through the year with a lot of visitors praying for success in exams and academic achievement.

We washed our hands before entering the shrine area.

With our trip more than halfway done, we were getting a bit punchy.

Since this shrine is supposed to have all the good luck omamori, we couldn't resist buying some education good luck charms for our loved ones who will be going to college and grad school.   They weren't cheap at all.... but then the cost of education these days are sure going up, so what the heck!

Mom said this tree was many centuries years old.  Doggone it!  I forget how many centuries.  Anyway, it was darn old and is a national treasure.

I just needed to take a photo of this peach tree because I thought the color was so pretty.
Mom said it was a peach tree and I'm just taking her word for it.

Lunch was at a place called Ume no Kura (plum storage?).   It seemed like a lot of these set meals have both a rice dish and a bowl of noodles.  That's a whole lot of carbs.
But like I said.... I lost four pounds on this trip.

We were leaving the restaurant when we realized we forgot mom's wheelchair.  The waitress laughed and said the noodles had made her so strong, she didn't feel she needed it anymore.

There were so many varieties of soft serve that we just needed to have one for dessert.  We decided on the Dazaifu Ume (plum) since Dazaifu is the name of the area and the owner recommended it.  Dennis opted to be different and got the Summer Orange.  I really didn't like the plum because it was tart and a little gritty.  Art liked it.

We did, of course, try the umegae mochi in Dazaifu since it's what they're known for.
Umegae mochi is a sweet rice cake with sweet bean paste inside.  It really was great!

We were pretty tired and now I'm having to wear a mask also.

We stopped at the Canal City Mall before heading home.  Yes, there is a canal in the middle of the mall.

I got this dish of (ikura) raw salmon eggs and ika (squid) at the Donmai Restaurant in the mall.  It seemed like a good idea at the time, but Art had to help me finish it.

I loved how there was an explanation in the bathroom about how to wash your hands.
We got back to the hotel around 6:00 PM and got ready to go to bed.  Mom and I were now really sick.  We needed to rest.

But it would be an early wake up again the following morning.