Quiet Day Number 2

Fountains at Canal City

We all had a terrible night's sleep last night.  We all got off to sleep no problem, but then Tom woke up crying just before midnight - wondering what the strange noise in the room was (the fridge!).  Then he cried about his big tooth falling out about an hour later, then he needed Vaseline for his lip which had split etc etc.  Matt and I tried various tricks to get back to sleep, but none of them seemed to work, it was about 4am before Tom got off, 5am before Matt got back off and 6am for me.  We woke up again at 9am - not good!

We decided it would have to be another quiet day today.  We headed to Canal City - a huge shopping complex with its own canal, fountains etc for a wander, shop and stare.  We got there without any bother and looked round.  First stop was Uniqlo, a clothes store where Matt and Tom normally get interesting t-shirts.  Matt found lots of interesting t-shirts for him and I found some for me - get this - I can fit in Japanese clothes!!!!!!!!  I have lost a bit of weight in the last 2 years (almost 2 stone) but maybe Japanese clothes sizes are getting bigger too?  Not only did I fit, but an XL was too big, so I had to buy a L.  Unfortunately for Tom, we couldn't find anything for him.  We have always got his Pla-Rail T-shirts from Uniqlo in the past - but this store only seemed to have Disney and Pixar themed T-shirts, which is a bit rubbish!

Tom and the "Yufuin No Mori" limited express train

The shopping centre was pretty empty (children here are still at school - they break up at the end of the week for Spring holidays).  We saw a fab fountain display to Abba's 'Dancing Queen' and found a couple of interesting shops.  Lunch saw us at a takoyaki bar and then we headed to the 'children's area' where we found a Ghibli shop (Tom bought a cat bus dangly to go on his book bag with some of his holiday money - thanks Granma and Pop Pop) and some other children's shops, but no pal-rail stuff (the train themed bits Tom normally ends up with from holidays here).  We then headed back to Hakata Station as Tom wanted to watch some of the local trains.  We indulged him.  Then we headed back into the station city in the search for tea and a bun, we found a Mr Donut, were very excited and headed straight in.  By now were were all beginning to fade so we decided to find some bento boxes and head home with them for tea.  I ended up with a vegan one as I was needed veg, and the boys had meaty ones.

Fukuoka from the top of Hakata Station

We got home, had some quiet time, then showers and baths before having bento around the table, followed by a game of UNO and some Eddie Stobart Trucks and Trailers before bed.  Our evening was spent trying to stay awake and drinking wine, believe it or not the wine did actually help us stay awake!