![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.travlindaz.codersoft.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/PIC_0300.jpg\" "\\"PIC_0300\\"")
<\/a>ur first destination was Miyajima – ranked as one of the three best views in Japan.\u00a0 After a scenic 20 minute bus ride, we arrived at the port, where we caught the 15 minute ferry ride over.\u00a0 Unfortunately the Torri Gate, floating in the high tide, got damaged in the storms early April.\u00a0 So it was surrounded with scaffolding preventing us from seeing it.\u00a0 Once off the boat, we were walked around the shopping strip of the island, and had the “recommended places to eat at” pointed out.\u00a0 Having already had Okonomiyaki, I didn’t pay much attention.\u00a0 Kaoru and I thought we’d find somewhere nice later anyway.<\/p>\nOur tour continued through the Shrine.\u00a0 The tide was out, and as mentioned, the Torri gate was covered in s We left the shop and looked at the time – we were now running a couple of minutes late, so hurried through the rest of the markets and re-joined the group to catch the ferry back to the main land.\u00a0 Our bus was waiting for us there, and took us back to Hiroshima, so we could see the Peace Park \/ Memorials \/ etc.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n After 90 minutes of our own time in the museum, we were returned to our hotel after a very emotional and enjoyable day.\u00a0 We had a juice, and went up to our room to decide what to do for the evening.\u00a0 We caught a street car to the underground shopping centre, and after a wander around there, bought noodels for dinner.\u00a0 We then went to “Southern Cross” – an Australian \/ Kiwi bar, which was very enjoyable.\u00a0 The publician was a Kiwi who didn’t speak much Japanese (so he claimed – but I’m sure he spoke more than he let on, given he had been in the Country for 9+ years), and most of the customers were ex-pats.\u00a0 There were only a couple of Japanese girls in there (and Kaoru, of course).\u00a0 So we had a couple of drinks and a chat with the publician, and then caught the street car (tram) back home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Today was a casual start to the day.\u00a0 After a shower, we went to a cafe outside the train station for some breakfast.\u00a0 Then we filled my camelback with water and ice, and were met at 10.20 to start our *guided* tour for the day.\u00a0 This was in English, and our trip had 30 people … Continue reading <\/a>caffolding, but other than that, it was a great tour.\u00a0 At its conclusion, we were given a couple of hours of “free time” to explore the island.\u00a0 Naturally, I did something a little different.\u00a0 Kaoru and I walked up a “back street”, and ended up finding another small shrine, a bit of a hike up the mountain.\u00a0 From here we had some amazing views back out at the island, and the bay.\u00a0 Once we came <\/a>back down, we went through the main Shrine again, so we could stop and pray.\u00a0 This is a very spiritual place for the Japanese, so I couldn’t deprive Kaoru the opportunity to pray here.\u00a0 As we walked through, we came across a wedding party – a Japanese lady and a French man.\u00a0 We walked past them, prayed at the Shrine, and started walking back to the meeting place, looking for some lunch on the way.\u00a0 We found what would have to be the smallest carpark I’ve ever seen!<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>We found lunch at a nice little stall – I had a fish stick with bacon and cheese (and a beer), and Kaoru had one with Shrimp.\u00a0 We were still hungry, so split a 3rd with Oyster – the other famous food in the area.\u00a0 We then continued our walk back to the ferry.\u00a0 Along the way, we stopped in a Soy Sauce shop.\u00a0 I had never seen so many different flavour soy sauces!\u00a0 I thought it was just a single flavour, but these all had a slightly different flavour to them.\u00a0 I tried an orangey one – it was quite nice!<\/p>\n<\/a>We started at the A-Bomb Dome.\u00a0 This is the ruins of the only building still standing from the a-bomb.\u00a0 It is between the target (a bridge) and the point the bomb detonated at, and gives you an appreciation of the destructive power of the bomb.\u00a0 From there, we walked around the Peace Park – to the monuments that have been erected, the Peace Flame (which will not go out until there are no more nuclear weapons), and other key sites.\u00a0 Then we went in to the museum, which showed us some before and after shots, and a Diaorama depecting the impact of the explosion.\u00a0 There was a wall that had a copy of all the protest letters written by the mayor of Hiroshima prior to all nuclear arms tests that have been made.\u00a0 There was a copy of the order given that the bomb would be dropped.\u00a0 Memories of my trip to Pearl Harbour started to come back.<\/p>\n<\/a>\u00a0 <\/a><\/p>\n