Hello! I had planned to update this sooner (like every night sooner) but the hotel I was staying at didn't have internet access... and yea, I couldn't really find many open wireless ports either.
But that's ok, because now you'll get a large dose of reading material!
Alright, so my trip into Hiroshima was pretty comfortable. I took the Shinano Limited Express to get to Nagoya, and took the Nozomi Super Express (Shinkansen) from there to Hiroshima. First off, I didn't just take ANY Nozomi train... I took the JR500 Series Nozomi train! Now, this probably doesn't really matter so much, but take a look and compare some of the different models of Shinkansen. Isn't that one awesome train?
Oh and one more thing, during the trip between Shin-Kobe and Okayama, this train surpasses the 300km/h mark. I took a couple videos, I'll mash em together and upload them and post the link here eventually.
Anyway, enough about trains. As cool as the Shinkansen is, that's not all I did this weekend. On Saturday, I got into Hiroshima at 13:49JST. After getting in and checking into my hotel, I decided to go check out the Peace Park (平和公園) and the A-bomb dome (原爆ドーム). The dome was kind of disturbing, it's the hollowed out remains of one of Hiroshima's landmark buildings, which withstood the nuclear blast. But after taking many pictures of that, I decided to walk around the peace park and see what other memorials and beauty was around.
It was very nice, very serene. There was a memorial for those lost in the bombing, a prayer arch, the peace bell, a few cases filled with origami cranes, and a really neat peace statue that looks a lot like the Grebel logo, if you ask me (see for yourself!).
The memorial was very beautiful, with the "8:15" sculpture at the center of everything. (8:15 was the time the bomb went off)
Also, is the nuclear bomb museum... And they left out NOTHING. NOTHING.
They had pictures and movies of the bomb going off, sketches by eye witnesses, documents regarding the selection of hiroshima as the first drop point, that there were Koreans and Chinese forced laborers in Hiroshima at the time (They don't lie about it, you nationalists), and they even had a life sized wax sculpture of school children who have had clothes melted onto them, and their skin drooping like it was melted (yes, it was that graphic). Definitely a disturbing museum. Anyway, I took no pictures of that because I don't think I need pictures to remember what I saw.
Moving along to more pleasant material, after that I went out to dinner at the "okonomi-yaki mura" which is a building with 23 different okonomi-yaki stores! It was pretty tasty :) After that, I didn't really do much except walk around downtown a bit then go back to my hotel and sleep... because the next day was going to be a killer.
Onto Sunday, my day trip to Miyajim Island (宮島). Very, VERY beautiful island. I took many many pictures of the many different sites I checked out. First I went to the floating Torii, called O-tori(大鳥居), which was a neat site. Went inside the shrine, witnessed some sort of wedding ceremony, took many pictures, and then headed to Daishoin Temple (大聖院寺). Very pretty mountain side temple, lots of pictures (as usual ;) and headed down to the omoto (大元) park to take the 2.0km omoto path up to the 540m high mountain top viewing area... WHAT A PAIN. It took at least 1hour and 20 minutes, most definately more, and a lot of pain to make it up that mountain. And it was a tease to, because once you're high enough, you actually go down... then up again... then down... and up finally to the 540m point. I made it... but barely. haha. I caved in and bought two bottles of 250JPY water. Oh well, it was worth it :P
The view from the mountain was SPECTACULAR. I took many many pictures, which you can see here :) The climb down was (obviously) a lot more easier and less painful. haha. after walking the 1.7 km trail down, I had some lunch then headed back to Otori-gate again. This time, the tide was low so I went out and touched it, and took a lot of pictures around it. Also, people were out there fishing for sea shells! It was pretty neat. Apparently it's a specialty of Miyajima. Anyway, I then went around the different shops to see what kind of things they were selling. I got some of that famous sea shell, and iti was pretty darn tasty. A bit expensive (sigh..) but good. I also saw the world's largest rice paddle, which measures a cool 5m long, and the 5 story high "Pagoda". All in all, a good day. Headed back, got some food, and went to bed... with a lot of pain :P
Today, I went to Hiroshima castle (with more pictures!), which is one of Japan's "originally built" castles... ... ... If you didn't notice it, try reading again :P
Anyway, I went around there... didn't go in because it didn't look very interesting (everything was far too modern, and no pictures were allowed). So instead, I walked the perimeter and took many snaps of that. Afterward, I went to the Shikkuien garden... which was stunning. A picture is worth a thousand words, so 150 pictures is a lot more than I'm willing to type! (Pictures are here).
Of course, one thing of note was the newly wed couple who were getting some photos taken, and I must say they looked pretty spiffy in their Kimonos. Congratulations to them!
Anyway, that just about sums up the hiroshima leg of my 9 day trip, now onto my trip to Himeji. Oh ya, and I definately went out of my way to take another Nozomi 500 series to get to Shin-Kobe, and transfer to another train. Just so I can ride this awesome train :D
Anyway, I went to Himeji to check out the castle. Luckily I got there around 3:50, so I had enough time to take the tour. Went through pretty much all of within the inner moat. The castle is really really cool. I particularly liked the holes in the wall where were designed to "throw rocks or boiling water" at enemies who were trying to climb it. That's awesome. Anyway, I got up to about the 4th floor when my stupid camera battery died, so I didn't get to take any pictures of the really cool view from the 6th floor observatory. It was really really amazing... and I so wish my camera didn't die... but I guess thats what happens when you take about 200 photos at a garden, and then a movie and some 30 pictures of a shinkansen. Sigh.
Moving along, I headed back down the castle of awesome, and just checked out some of the garden inside, and headed back to the station to go to Kobe.
Got to Kobe, and like an idiot, didn't check the map before I got to Kobe so I walked around the station for a good 30 minutes trying to find a useful map, or a police box. or anything to help me find my hotel.
Luckily Google Local Japan came to the rescue and helped me find my hotel. And I must say it's pretty awesome for the price I'm paying :)
Since i got in at a decently late time tonight, most things were closed after I got out of my hotel... so not much to report on that tonight.
I'll update more tomorrow :)
Pictures will be uploaded sometime between now and infinity. I don't make any guarantees ;)
