By the numbers
15.61 kms
20,254 steps
Level of Chaos: Lost in the labyrinths of stations
I was up early to have some breakfast before I headed out to the station to catch the train to Nagoya. The funny thing was I got the actual ticket for the Kintetsu on my phone so it looked kind of official. I walked to the station after breakfast to check my IC card to make sure I had enough money on it as I was going through to Nagoya from Kyoto using it. I had enough money, which was great and once I got ready to leave the weather had changed within the half hour and had started to rain on my walk to the station. Luckily it wasn’t that bad yet. The train turned up wet obviously from the station and while I was looking online the weather report for Kyoto wasn’t looking so good. The limited express train did look really good and my seat was really comfortable. I did watch the conductor walk someone who didn’t belong into another carriage. They seem to know who is sitting and where. Because I was sitting at the back of the carriage I kept hearing the conductor speaking while doing his checks. By the time I reached Kashihara the skies had opened up and was pouring.
I was watching the driving rain when my next train arrived, although I had gone downstairs to see if I had to catch the train there, but I didn’t need to do that as I was on the right platform. The Hinotori arrived and I followed someone into the carriage that was at the front and someone sat in my seat. I moved him on as he was actually one of the double seats next to me. I had chosen the single seat. My main bag fit perfectly there as there was heaps of leg space and I put my other bag above my head. We had clear views of the track with he driver, which was pretty cool. Then the display was saying there was a delay, and I had to look it up as I was wondering what happened. The issue was back in Osaka as a train was broken at a station so no one was leaving and delays with cancelations. Everything we had missed so I was happy. The rain persisted until we got to Nagoya.
It was all well and good to get off the train at Nagoya, but it ended up being annoying when I did the labyrinth underground again as I had no idea where I was. It took a little bit to figure out where I was. I eventually found where I was staying, although not that far from the station, but easy to get turned around. I sorted myself out and headed to the station after dropping my bags off. I walking through the first ticket barriers I thought I was meant to go through and couldn’t find the train again. I think I was in the subway area again like in Osaka. It took me around 15 mins trying to figure it out. I walked back out and then I seen a sign for the train name. I followed that and it was around a 5 min walk to another part of the station. I was heading to a museum because it was wet, and that was the Maglev and train museum. It was mainly all about the Shinkansen and the future, which is the Maglev train. The maglev runs at a top speed of 500 kms and hovers through the air with magnets. The story of the Shinkansen was told as well from the beginning to now with information on the ticketing changes, what happens during a disaster, a typical day for the machines and the maintenance schedule. They had several versions in the museum and also the well known train Dr Yellow that diagnosed issues on the tracks. At least the videos had subtitles, although not everything I found did, but I didn’t mind that at all.
When I left, I headed to where Lego Land is and they even have a lego hotel, not where I am staying, but the music would become annoying within the hour. I thought I would see the outside before heading back as it was trying to rain. Once I got back, I checked in as I had gotten back around 4pm, and then went back out again. I went looking for some CDs and actually found what I was looking for and even used Google translate with one of the ladies. There was a little bit of confusion on my end as a CD came in a pack looking like it was a Record. When I got back to my room it was actually a CD. I just found that strange, but I got what I wanted, although I think my bag is now a touch heavier, but I don’t know the weight until I end up on scales. For the time being the rain had held off so I didn’t get too wet.
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