We left Tojinbo on the No. 84 11:54AM bus heading back to Awara Onsen Station – bus fare again ¥790 for adults – and by the time we were back at Fukui, it was 1:45PM. The weather in Fukui continued to be a mix of rain and snow hail, though thankfully the wind was quite billowing like at Tojinbo. Still, we weren’t sure if we wanted to make our way next to Eiheiji Temple in the cold, so we gave that up and instead explored on foot the immediate vicinity surrounding Fukui JR station. Even though the city isn’t anything like the size of Osaka or Kyoto, it’s still fairly built-up along the likes of Himeji, and there are cafe, dining and retail options in the train station itself.
Fukui JR station is fun: it’s adorned everywhere with pictures and models of dinosaurs. Why? Apparently,it’s because Fukui is the first place in Japan where a complete skeleton of a Raptor was reconstructed, after discovery of its bones. Dinosaur Square is a small exhibit outdoor area that’s in front of the station where the kids will probably want a few pictures to be taken: but you won’t spend more than 10 minutes. We next headed to the Fukui Castle Ruins park to take a look.
The Fukui Castle Ruins is just another short 5 minutes walk down the road away from Fukui JR station. According to information web sites, the castle was originally built by Yuki Hideyasu, the second son of the 17th century Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. There’s a statue of the son on horseback in the park (picture below). Today, all that remains of the castle are the moats and stone walls, though there is a project to rebuild parts of the castle: the wooden Orokabashi Bridge was rebuilt in 2008.
That’s a wrap for Day 09, and we kept it light and easy again for the day. We’d be heading to Toyama tomorrow on Day 10, so more to come soon!