Fall Bazaar and Off to Hiroshima for a Carps Game! 10/22/11

Saturday morning and we're checking out the Fall Bazaar inside the sports court at the IronWorks Gym. It's just not as much fun anymore being inside the gym instead of at the old Mac Dome - so perfect for the bazaar - but alas, it's been torn down in the name of progress . . . and to make matters worse, it's VERY HOT & steamy inside this morning since it's been raining - NO ventilation. Well, this won't take long! (click photo for a closer look)


I bought a few earrings from Ikue, but saw nothing else I could NOT live without.


After pedaling home to change clothes, we're off on the train to Hiroshima - passing a parked freight train. Tonight at 6 PM we're attending the Hiroshima Carps professional baseball game, so we're going up early to shop & eat.


Stan's excited & has brought his noisemaker from the last game he attended. When you shake it or strike it, it sounds like hands clapping. We're hoping to find more stuff before the game and we're both wearing red.


Goldenrod blooming alongside the track. It always reminds me of Alabama. It used to be the State Flower when we were children, but later was changed to the camellia. I still think it's beautiful though & it's in bloom everywhere right now.


Persimmon trees are loaded with the sweet fruit right now. Japan's persimmon is extremely sweet and nutritious. Read more HERE!


These HS girls were very friendly and sat down in front of us on the train. They wanted to practice their English and were excited when they found out that Stan is a HS teacher. They're in school uniform because most HS students attend at least a half-day on Saturday. The girl on the left had a bag that featured Dubai and a photo pin of the President of UAE, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed. I had to ask her who he was . . . She said she had visited Dubai and liked it very much. I thought that was interesting.


And these 3 were their friends standing nearby. All such cute & friendly young women!


Getting off the streetcar at Hondori (Main Street) stop for the Hondori Street covered shopping area. We're headed to Andersen's Bakery for lunch, which is just a block or so down the street. It's a beautiful historic building that is one of the few that survived the atomic bomb in 1945. The first floor houses not only the huge bakery, but floral shop, deli, wine, etc, as well as a small restaurant where we're eating today. Of course the second floor has many restaurants - all kinds of cuisine available there. But we just wanted a light sandwich.


My BLT (with egg) club - yum! And of course iced cafe latte.


Stan has the salmon & avocado - both are on bakery bread & yummy.


Back out on Hondori Street . . . Well - I don't remember seeing THIS store before! Another new one . . . wonder what they sell???


And a little further down I look up and see a sign for The Shack - must be up on a higher floor. They used to be across the street from Molly Malone's but we heard it moved - that whole building is undergoing renovations - but we didn't know where. Now we do! They have really FABULOUS hamburgers at The Shack.


We've taken a left turn out of the covered street down a narrow little street - looks interesting. Look at this beautiful floral shop.


Stan was intrigued with this carved pumpkin. We don't usually see orange colored pumpkins - especially this large - in Japan. It's been carved from the bottom instead of the top, and is sitting over a glass with candle inside.


And it's expensive! 5,250 yen which is $69.05 - yikes!

We find the most interesting streets when we venture off the beaten paths . . . We're outside the covered shopping street, but no cars allowed here either.


Oh this made me think of Heather - a wine bar!


At the end of the street is the fish sign that I recognized. I remembered that it's the logo for the restaurant that's near the Polar Bear Gelato - yum! So of course we stopped to get some!


Then we walked over to Tokyu Hands and browsed the Halloween department. I LOVE this store! And it always makes me think of Barbara . . .


Stan liked this bloody pumpkin whole-head mask. And it wishes you "good luck!"


I thought these Micky & Minnie decorations (or are they candy bags?) were cute!


We're on the streetcar now headed to Hiroshima Station so we can walk to the stadium. We're in the back of the car, but the back & front are exactly the same so the cars don't have to turn around. The driver simply moves from the front to the back and the car reverses direction. So I have a great view of the tracks running down the middle of this very wide city street.


Advertisement in the streetcar. I LOVE the discreet & modest placement of the letter "h" . . .


Stan's very excited about going to the game & he's decked out with his purchases that we found at Tokyu Hands. We want to blend in as Hiroshima Carp fans. Think we will? Oh - and he's holding Carps toilet paper . . .


This is the streetcar map posted inside the car. It's all color-coded so it's SOOOO easy to get around downtown Hiroshima. You simply get on at any stop & pay 150 yen when you exit.


No barriers to keep the cars from crossing where they're not supposed to (except frequent streetcar trains of course!) Heavy traffic downtown is why we always take public transportation. SOOO much easier and parking always costs.


Nice shot of a newer style streetcar going one direction, right next to the older style streetcar going the other.


Going over one of the many rivers in Hiroshima.


We've arrived at the station and have begun our "short 10-min walk" (seems like everywhere in Japan is the same distance!) No doubt about which way to go - it's VERY clearly marked. The new Carp stadium is called the Madza Zoom-Zoom Stadium. Cute, huh? 800 meters from here - about a half-mile to go.


Just under that overhead "gate" and keep walking. We're following the crowd, although it's almost an hour and a half until the game actually begins.


We're walking past the Hiroshima Intelligent Hotel. Hmmm.


Cute windows painted on the right side of the building.


I think I see the stadium ahead! We're actually walking right alongside the train track (to our left). The sidewalks here are easy to walk on - recycled ground up rubber or something like that. Nice!


This white wall has life-size photos of each Hiroshima Carp baseball player.


How cool is that? And it's all in English . . .

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Take Me Out To The Ballgame!

Margie with #18. I don't own a bright red shirt, so I'm wearing one of Stan's!!!


And I'm wearing my brand new Carps baseball cap - the first one I've EVER owned . . . and you can't see it, but my ponytail is hanging out the back over the strap.


Walking up the ramp to the stadium. It's been a pleasant walk - more than 10 minutes for us though . . . but it's a really beautiful late afternoon. It was raining off & on this morning so hoping the rain has finished since the stadium is open . . .


Wow - there goes the Shinkansen! (bullet train) toward the station. Their tracks are nearly always elevated. Pretty cool to see it outside the station. . .


Approaching the entrance we see a drummer. Pep squads play instruments at professional baseball games in Japan. I was surprised we had to pass through Security - all bags were patted down & peeked into. First time I've ever seen this in Japan except at the airport.


Wow! This is VERY cool! Our first trip to the new Zoom-Zoom stadium! Stan went to a game with our friend Hiroshi-san a few years ago, but the Carp were still playing at the old stadium near Peace Park.


As we walk around to the opposite side (our seats are in the outfield) we have a great view of inside the stadium.


We're in our seats now. We have seats with a large group of Americans tonight, but we're the first ones in our group to arrive. We wanted to get here early so we could relax & look around before the game.


The wind is causing the large inflated player (or is it a fan?) above us to bob around.


These are really great seats & we're not the only ones to arrive early.


And we can see the scoreboard well.


Lots of workers sweeping & raking the dirt, and adding something (sand, maybe?) to help soak up the water from the morning's rains.



Little boys practicing their swings . . .


Looking up - goody! We're mostly covered from the pep squad area above, so if it rains straight down, we won't get wet.


Seats to our right are starting to fill up.


Looking across the field at the ads on the fence as another Shin leaves the station.


Closer view.


The lights are coming on as the sun sets. The game starts at 6 PM.


And the team is on the field! Each was introduced on the jumbo-tron.

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