My flight home today is a late evening one, so I had most of the day to kill first. I had a look at a map, and decided to visit Nakajima Park, a few stops south on the metro from my hotel.
One reason I chose the park is the map showed it contains Sapporo City Observatory.
Aha! I spied an open door! I walked up to it, and yes, it was open for viewing. Not only that, but the telescope was configured to see the sun. A Japanese gentleman welcomed me in, and indicated I should take a look. It was a great view of a quite spotty sun. Then he pointed to another eyepiece. This had another filter enabling me to see several prominences. Once he realised I knew what I was looking at, we had a nice little conversation about the telescope and some pictures on the wall taken with it.
After that pleasant interlude I continued my walk around the park. There were many good views across the lake.
And there were more formal garden arrangements.
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| this must look magnificent when the wisteria is in bloom |
It was very hot, so I found an ice cream place, and sat enjoying it, while being regales with 1970s pop music. Then, of course, I needed to find a public convenience. I had discovered there are two styles: the over-the-top luxurious loos with heated seats and built in everything, and the holes in the ground. The park had only the more primitive option.
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| the romance of travel |
Then it was time for lunch, then back to the hotel to talk about neuromorphic computing with another colleague over iced coffee.
Ready to fly home tonight.
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