Nagasaki

Nagaski:
This is a beautiful city in the midst of rolling hills and the loveliest of harbors.
Unfortunately it is the second and thankfully the last city to experience an atomic bomb attack. Sandy and I toured the Peace Park, the Atom Bomb Museum and ground zero. All of it was very serious. Our guide told us that after the bomb the survivors were told that nothing would ever live there again but two short months later flowers and plants and trees started to rise from the ground giving hope to all. As near as we could tell there is no animosity whatever against the US but a quiet determination to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
It’s spring here and flowers and cherry blossom trees are starting to bloom. There are wonderful, solemn statues and memorials everywhere but I’ll take away three very pleasant memories.
At the peace park a gentleman came into view with a slightly limping tan Labrador retriever on a leash and just behind him a very pink baby stroller pushed by a woman wearing a medicinal mask over her face. Nothing too unusual until you noticed she was pushing the prettiest Persian white cat with a plaid sweater and pink blanket. A little out of place at first but then quite normal.
The second was a class of uniformed school kids, probably 14 to 16 on a tour of the Peace Park and when they saw us they came alive with the loveliest of smiles and all holding up the peace sign and laughing.
The third is when our group approached their group at the entrance to the museum I bowed to a few girls close by and gave my best good morning greeting of “Ohayo-gozaimasu” and they bowed back and replied “Ohayo-gozaimasu” and giggled and giggled and giggled. Very pleasant indeed.
Till next time..