While Not Working

We started the day with the tough stuff: a visit to the Hiroshima Peace Museum, dedicated to preserving the memory of those affected by the atom bomb blast, and working to build a better future. The museum was full, with a queue to get in before the doors were even open. The exhibitions did not hide the horror and brutality of the blast and its aftermath. The museum, jam packed with people, was silent. The only sound was that of hundreds of feet shuffling on carpet as we worked our way through the exhibits. There are no words, really. I didn't take many pictures either. Walls stained by black radioactive rain. Panorama: the area in which the Museum now stands, along with the Peace Park. After 3 hours we emerged back into the busy hubbub of modern downtown Hiroshima.  The sky was blue, the sun bright, the wind bitterly cold. Trees in full blossom lined the river, and families picnicked under falling blossoms. I went for a walk through the Peace Park, memorials at every turn. Contras...

The 25th floor turned on a sumptuous feast for breakfast. After nearly 3 weeks of Japanese breakfasts I was ready to put down my chop sticks and indulge in something a little different, and here was my opportunity. Cereal, croissants, pastries, fruit salad, bacon, eggs, plus all the Japanese breakfast dishes, there were even my friends the fermented soy beans. I left the slimy little things alone and had another croissant instead.  We started our first day in Hiroshima with a lap around town on the Hiroshima Loop bus. We complicated the procedure a bit by jumping on the wrong bus and then spending some time dithering at Bus Stop No 2 on the south side of the station when we should have been at Bus Stop No 2 on the North side. Once we got the geography right we were all systems go for a lap around town and very nice it was too, mainly because the bus was heated and it was cold outside. This is the correct bus. Finally. We had a deadline because at 2pm we had to meet a guide for a wa...

The day was cold and clear, or as clear as it gets in this part of the world anyway.  We had our last Hotel Dogo breakfast: having covertly observed our fellow diners the preceding day, I had a better idea how to handle my fermented soy beans with their slimy cobwebs and tendency to slither away from chopsticks. (Mix them in with the rice. Although they'll make the rice slippery too. You have been warned). Farewell shiny hotel lobby. We caught the Iotetsu train back to Takahma and jumped on a little bus which took us to the Matsuyama Tourist Ferry Terminal to catch the car ferry to Hiroshima. From the train. Our ride. There were not a lot of people waiting for the ferry. For a little over two hours the ferry chugged through the islands and channels of the Inland Sea and city ran around taking photos from the upstairs deck, taking refuge inside whenever the cold got too much outside. We passed through the Ondonoseto Strait, under the First and Second Ondo Bridges. Obviously engineer...