I had been worrying about this day for some time as we were due to catch the 8:59am shinkansen bound for Hiroshima and I really had some doubts as to our ability to check out of the hotel on time, get all our luggage to the station, then all jump on the shinkansen together with our luggage in the orderly, efficient manner that the Japanese achieve these things. Until now we have been so spoilt as apart from the homestay, we have had a single base at which we could leave our luggage and just pop in and out each day. However, from here on in we are on the move and carrying our luggage as we go, making things a tad more tricky to coordinate. Nevertheless, our fab team did not let me down and we achieved our task with military precision, much to the relief of our lovely travel coordinator, Kazu-chan. For many it was the first ride on a shinkansen and I think everyone was suitably impressed although the Japanese in the group immediately all fell asleep as only Japanese can do as soon as they take a seat. We arrived in Hiroshima and immediately transferred into a bus, which took us to the Peace Park and museum. There we were met by two wonderful volunteer guides, who took us around for a good few hours and shared their wealth of knowledge with us. At the Peace Memorial Terrena was able to leave her string of origami cranes that had been lovingly made by her students. Overwhelmingly our guide claimed that some 30 million cranes were delivered to the site each year from all over the world. How absolutely wonderful that Sadako's story still lives on so strongly both domestically and in the international arena. Time spent in Hiroshima left everyone a little quiet and lost in their own thoughts as we boarded the bus again bound for the ferry to Miyajima. It was strange to see our normally robust, chatty group so transformed by the experience, but I certainly don't think there were any regrets. A quick stop for some of Hiroshima's famous okonomiyaki at the ferry terminal well and truly satisfied our hunger pains before the quick ferry trip across to the iconic Miyajima. While the beautiful red shrine gate is often best seen at dusk and when it seems to be floating on water, it was still a majestic sight in the mid afternoon. We wandered with the deer and enjoyed a lovely afternoon although this was our first time to feel like real tourists as there were crowds at every turn. Returning to Hiroshima on the ferry I suddenly felt a twinge of sadness as it felt like we had made a turn towards the end of the tour. What a week and a half it had been so far!!
I had been worrying about this day for some time as we were due to catch the 8:59am shinkansen bound for Hiroshima and I really had some doubts as to our ability to check out of the hotel on time, get all our luggage to the station, then all jump on the shinkansen together with our luggage in the orderly, efficient manner that the Japanese achieve these things. Until now we have been so spoilt as apart from the homestay, we have had a single base at which we could leave our luggage and just pop in and out each day. However, from here on in we are on the move and carrying our luggage as we go, making things a tad more tricky to coordinate. Nevertheless, our fab team did not let me down and we achieved our task with military precision, much to the relief of our lovely travel coordinator, Kazu-chan. For many it was the first ride on a shinkansen and I think everyone was suitably impressed although the Japanese in the group immediately all fell asleep as only Japanese can do as soon as they take a seat. We arrived in Hiroshima and immediately transferred into a bus, which took us to the Peace Park and museum. There we were met by two wonderful volunteer guides, who took us around for a good few hours and shared their wealth of knowledge with us. At the Peace Memorial Terrena was able to leave her string of origami cranes that had been lovingly made by her students. Overwhelmingly our guide claimed that some 30 million cranes were delivered to the site each year from all over the world. How absolutely wonderful that Sadako's story still lives on so strongly both domestically and in the international arena. Time spent in Hiroshima left everyone a little quiet and lost in their own thoughts as we boarded the bus again bound for the ferry to Miyajima. It was strange to see our normally robust, chatty group so transformed by the experience, but I certainly don't think there were any regrets. A quick stop for some of Hiroshima's famous okonomiyaki at the ferry terminal well and truly satisfied our hunger pains before the quick ferry trip across to the iconic Miyajima. While the beautiful red shrine gate is often best seen at dusk and when it seems to be floating on water, it was still a majestic sight in the mid afternoon. We wandered with the deer and enjoyed a lovely afternoon although this was our first time to feel like real tourists as there were crowds at every turn. Returning to Hiroshima on the ferry I suddenly felt a twinge of sadness as it felt like we had made a turn towards the end of the tour. What a week and a half it had been so far!!
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