Japan - Hiroshima

The second city on our Japanese adventure was Hiroshima - we really liked this city.  Tokyo seemed so big and disjointed to us (probably the jet lag) and I'm thinking it would take more time to get to know it better.  Hiroshima has a great transport option for tourists - there are three different bus routes that take you around the city to various tourist spots and these are covered by the Japan Rail pass.  This makes it very easy to travel around without trying to negotiate destinations and fares and money for six people of varying ages.

These are the Halloween decorations from our hotel's lobby.

Of course, the first place we went to was The Peace Park - an area by the river which is now parklands and gardens and incorporates a museum and memorials and The Peace Dome - a building which has been left and is now a memorial.  This building was not completely flattened because the bomb exploded almost directly above it and so the forces were downwards rather than outwards.

Before and after.

Not far away is Hiroshima Castle; this is actually a replica as it has actually been rebuilt a number of times due to wars and fires and bomb etc.  It has quite an extensive museum inside, with a small dress up area, and wonderful views from the top.  The gardens are a bit more "rustic" and allowed more wandering and climbing, not as perfectly kept (and restrictive) as we found other castle gardens to be.

One drizzly morning Robin and I went for an early wander through the streets and found an old temple up on one of the hills.  We watched the children going to school - wandering across the roads with almost no care for the traffic - to us it seemed danger was constantly imminent, but of course this was Japan with everyone being thoughtful and respectful!

  

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