Hiroshima Road Trip (April 6-9th)

Early in the morning, we started off for Hiroshima. The drive took almost 4 hours from Erica's place, not as long as we had been led to believe it would take! Although cheaper than taking the train, it was still quite pricey because of the tolls. All highways in Japan are toll roads.

This is the bridge we crossed that joins Kyushyu to Honshu



We arrived in downtown Hiroshima around noon and once we'd finally found our way around the city and found parking, we wandered around the Peace Park area. Because it was such a beautiful day and the cherry blossoms were in full bloom, everyone was out sitting by the water under the cherry blossom trees having their lunch.

Wandering around Hiroshima, you can't help but be amazed at how well Hiroshima has recovered from the most horrendous thing that could ever befall a city...Looking around, it's hard to believe only 60 years ago the entire city was completely destroyed.

We visited the Atomic Bomb Museum

Here's the Peace monument outside the Atomic Bomb museum where a Peace Memorial Ceremony is held every year gathering many to pray for peace.

the Atomic Bomb Dome, a Unesco World Heritage site, is a symbol of the atomic bomb. It was decided to keep the building to remember the disaster and the war and has become a symbol of the people's hope that it will not happen again.

Hiroshima is famous for its own version of Okonomiyaki

We spent one day in Miyajima, famous for the torii (red gate) leading to Itsukushima shrine.

As you exit the ferry port in Miyajima, you are met by deers which wander freely around the island. I always thought of deers as being very gentle creatures. They're not.

If you have food (or if they think you have food) they will butt you (and it hurts!) until you give them what you have. They can be very aggressive!

They're much friendlier when they're tired?..

Istukushima Shrine, registered as a World Cultural Heritage, is said to have been founded in the 600's.

There happen to be a wedding in progress while we were there.

At the start of the day, notice how high the tide is.

In the afternoon, the tide was low enough that you could walk up to the torii and touch it

Sitting under one of the many cherry blossom trees on the island.

A very typical Japanese scene during this time of year: enjoying a meal in good company under a cherry blossom tree.

According to our guide book, the view from the top of Mount Misen is worth seeing. We had the choice of either taking a ropeway up or following a trail. Although we hadn't planned to do any hiking, we figured it'd be nice to hike it since it was only 2.5 km.

While looking for the entrance, we came across this sign which helpfully states it's 10 minutes away, or 7 minutes if you run a little.

Lost of uneven stairs to climb,

A couple of hours later, made it to the top!

Beautiful view

Taking a rest while taking in the view

After having taken the ropeway back down, we wandered around the many omiyage (souvenir) shops until we were ready to leave the island.

As we were making our way back to the port, one last picture of the torii.