Miyajima Shrine |
Hiroshima Peace Park |
By Colin Meighen
Well it was a wee bit wet yesterday. To start out we went out on a ferry to Miyajima shrine, the big red one that sits in the ocean. It was a nice ride on the ferry. We then after having some fun with the local deer went off to see the shrine. After getting our group picture and walking around. I'd say 5 minutes I headed back to the nice dry station.
We then rode the ferry back to the main land and took another train ride to a sake factory. After being blown around a bit we got to the factory and got to watch a neat video sensei tried to translate for us. Then we toured the big area where only in the winter they make sake. They need a constant temperature. It was quite fun.
We rode another train back into Hiroshima. Had a quick lunch and were off to the peace park. It was an interesting place. There was one building that they keep that had survived the bombing. They also had several other monuments around that were interesting.
We then toured the nifty museum for a whooping 50 yen. There was a lot of history on Hiroshima from its beginning and also to the present. I personally liked all the artifacts from the people that they collected from around the blast area. Such as the melted bottles, clocks that stopped and other household items. Then it became a nuclear is bad campaign.
Finally it was time to put our 1000 paper cranes in the 1000 paper crane place. We then visited the peace bell to conclude our time in the park.
Next we ventured to a semi farther away area by walking, loads of fun. Here we had some very tasty and fast okonomiyaki, a pancake pizza-like food. They were very tasty. We then spent the next 2 hours at this nifty covered street mall. After going a block you ran into stoplights. It had a bunch of fun and interesting stores. I even bought a few items.
Then we returned to the youth hostel by bus and began the fun walk up the not so short or gradual hill thing. I do recall a few people missed the turn and had even more walking fun. Then I relaxed, packed my bags for Tokyo, showered, and went to sleep cause of our new ~6am wake up time.