Shuri Castle Ruins

A couple that we hang out with sometimes mentioned to us that they went to the Shuri Castle Ruins one weekend and they have a young son only 2 weeks older than Colton so we figured it was a safe one to try. It was relatively easy to find as Jason sees the signs on his way to work every day. There is one thing that is confusing here though, about the signs for the monuments. Since the Japanese people read right to left and up and down sometimes if the sign says - "Shuri Castle Ruins" with an arrow first and then 3km, an American would assume it means turn and then go the 3 km and you will find it. I think it means go 3 km and then turn (because whenever we do it the American way we get lost), but Jason is sure that can't be right. Either way we still don't know and often get lost trying to figure it out. Luckily Colton enjoys car rides. Upon researching parking pre-trip I read that sometimes you have to back your car into a parking spot that is 3 cars deep. Oh boy! Jason nor I can even back into a spot 1 car deep. I was thinking we were in for a treat. Luckily we got there and the parking attendant took our keys and let us on our way. Phew! Dodged a bullet on that one. All of the Japanese cars are always parked backwards in the spots. I can only imagine the laughs and giggles that would have been pointed our way if we were trying and trying to park our car and couldn't get it. Either way, thank God, we didn't have to it!

We walked up a hill and saw the giant walls that surrounded the castle ruins. It was amazing. Each rock seemed to have been chiseled by hand to fit perfectly into the wall and it was tall! We followed the signs for the wheelchair and stroller ramps as there were a lot of stairs and we had Colton's big stroller with us. We thought we were following the sign correctly when all of a sudden we were all by ourselves. No one else had ventured this way. Hm.... We looked around and continued walking on the paved sidewalk that seemed to be going in the right general direction. A man stopped us and asked us where we were going. We said we needed the ramp (he didn't understand this). He said, "No strollers this way, all stairs." So... I guess we read the sign wrong. Maybe it was one of those backward reading things again. Either way we turned around and went back up the hill past where we started and there it was. The handicap ramp! Of course I swear we picked the hottest day of the year to hike the castle grounds (I think every day is the hottest day of the year).

 

There were paths all over the grounds headed to different things, this one was a look out point. If you can imagine before all of this was developed it was probably just jungle and little villages. It would have been a great place to make sure no one was coming to invade your castle. The view was spectacular (as you can see).

After we got through the initial gate there was a small courtyard where you purchased your tickets and there was even 2 geishas doing a traditional dance (I guess I don't know if they were supposed to be geishas or if it was just traditional dress). Through a small gate and it opened up to this. The castle. Just to the right of the main entrance is where they were letting people in. You had to take off your shoes and carry them in a plastic bag. Its amazing more people don't get nasty foot fungus over here. You weren't allowed to take pictures inside the castle. But it was very pretty. We can't read a lot of the signs that are inside telling you what each room is for or anything so I can't give you much historical information. We did find a window that other people were taking pictures out of, so we figured we could too.

 

 

After touring the castle there were still a couple of things on the grounds we wanted to see.

 

 

 

Again, I don't know what this is, but it sure is pretty. We can't read the signs. There were some little ducklings underneath the bridge that Jason and Colton are sitting on and there were some kids feeding them that we stopped to watch for a little while. They were cute, but Colton (and Dad) were sweaty so we had to head home!