Shuri castle

Some trips are just a bust. This day started out promising w a trip to Naha to see Shuri castle. We were certainly spoilt for choice as far as castles went in Europe so I was really interested to see what this castle had to offer. On the car ride down there though, we got a call from a friend telling us a typhoon was on it's way. Obviously it wasn't imminent & we didn't turn around & go home, but it was definitely in the back of our minds.
Once we got to the castle grounds we parked the car & somehow it was conveyed to us the parking was only 2 hour parking. That didn't make sense to me. Who can only park for 2 hours at a historical tourist site?? I assumed they meant the cost (abt $3) was for 2 hours instead of per hour & off we went. We didn't really spend much time walking around the castle grounds, we got the kids a sweet treat & then paid for entrance to the castle. Several things began to go wrong. It was hot, humid, I wanted pictures of the kids but they weren't having it. I was distracted w trying to find nice set ups for shots & didn't really stop to take in the sights. We had the HUGE double jogging stroller & that was nearly impossible to maneuver around, not to mention a huge magnet for all sorts of stares. There was lots of opens space so for some reason the kids began running around wildly. I was getting irritated on all levels. Then, it was time to feed Elliot. I told Ryan to take the kids into the castle & I would go back into the air conditioning where Ryan had told me he'd seen a 'baby room'. I took Elliot & went inside. A woman noticed me wandering around & the next thing I knew, she lead me back to where there was a changing table, two small stools & hospital style curtains for you to, uh... hide yourself? I sat down & then pulled the curtain all around me. It was very odd sitting behind the curtain, looking at nothing & being able to hear all this stuff going on outside. Outside I could hear people tuning instruments...
Luckily there was a show getting ready to happen so I quickly went & got Ryan & the kids. Unfortunately, I never got to see the inside of the castle.
The show was really interesting & I really wish I could have understood what they were saying, but it was all in Japanese. Ugh. But the performers were really pretty & all the music was live, performed on shamisen. We only got to see about 15 minutes of the show tho bc Ryan started to get worried about our 2 hours parking limit, that again, I'm not really sure I believed so we left. It was pretty disappointing so I can't wait to go back so I can actually see more than the back of a curtain!





This was a vending machine for umbrellas!

It started to rain during the show so you can see the rain drops. Luckily both the performers & audience were under covers!


Oh man, when these two came out & was fascinated! What on earth were they supposed to be???? I wish I knew what the whole show was about!

By the time we were home, the typhoon was on it's way but we did get to see a huge, very cool double rainbow! The second one is hard to see & what is it about never being able to photograph the whole rainbow!