Dinosaur Day in Fukui　福井県立恐竜博物館

October 2017,

The morning after

A wild night, not the election, the weather. By the morning, one lift is out of action due to rain being driven down the shaft. The landing in front of the lift doors is strewn with detritus blown down the shaft and through the crack around the edges of the lift itself. Remarkable in a large modern building.

Fukui Hotel Academia

Breakfast, a buffet style affair, turns out to be much better than expected so for a cheap, excellent deal in Fukui consider the Academia. It also boasts a swimming pool, gym and restaurant/coffee shop as part of the complex. These remain untried.

Today is to be our “Day of The Dinosaurs” as we are off to visit the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum. Again, this is a welcome escape from the incessant rain. The wind has died away, for the most part, but it is still a very wet day.

Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum

The Dinosaur Museum is large and well presented. Few of the exhibits are real but they are serious copies accompanied by serious information. On the other hand, there are some animated mock ups to terrify small children. It is, though, a well designed and fascinating place.  In all, we spend some three and a half hours wandering about and learn things about things we were totally unaware of.

Also, my udon lunch, in the restaurant, was decorated with a seaweed dinosaur. Plus, there is a large park outside, which we did not explore due to the rain, but in good weather, an ideal spot for a young family.

Leaving the Dinosaur Museum, we head for Eiheiji temple, thinking the weather is changing, fooled by a vain attempt by the sun to break through on the western horizon. Once we start the climb into the mountains the rain returns in force and we decide to give up the fool’s errand and try again in the morning.

Thus decided, we drive back to the Sakai michi no eki and check the Plant supermarket next door. Plant, we remember from a previous trip, is cheap and has a good Deli. section. Sadly, this turns out to be only partly true. Cheap it is but the Deli. section is a shadow of ones we recall from Mie or Wakayama.

There is food enough, of course, and we settle in for the night at Sakai michi-no-eki but it is much chillier than previously and we need more bedding, especially as, due to the constant wet, the interior of the car feels damp.

＊Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum ; 730 yen / adult  (renewal open 2023 summer)