Third day - Hiroshima
On the third day we woke up with a loud thunder and discovered we nearly overslept. From the beginning nothing went as planned. Due to heavy rain we had to take the bus which arrived too late, so that we had to take the train one hour later.
It was our first ride with a Shinkansen (Hikari), the most punctual and fastes bullet trains and finally, our Japan Rail Passes payed off. There’re many things which are better than the ICE:
- Departure and arriving on time
- Enough space to put your legs in a comfortable position
- Non-reserved seats are in the first three wagons, so that you don’t need to run through all wagons to look for a place, if you didn’t manage to reserve a seat.
The only thing which wasn’t is that there’re still smoker waggons. In general, the Japanese government (and public as well) don’t seem to think of smoking as a health risk. People smoke naturally in restaurants, although the food is running openly right in front of them…really disgusting.
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Well, back to Hiroshima: That was the first time we went without guide, so we as well as my cousin were a little worried if we could find the way without getting lost. He prepared some maps and explained us which train to take and so on. He also gave me his mobile phone in case we can’t find home and so every three hours I got a check-call ^^.
My first impression of Hiroshima was, that it’s a nice little town with small houses in a nice scenery. Houses and coloured hills passed by while I looked out of the window. I liked it a lot.
Our first station was the island Miyajima. From the station we took the ferry to Miyajima to visit the Itsukushima Shrine (a floating shrine). From afar you could see the famous red floating torii (traditional Japanese style gate) standing in the water. Later I was told that you actually can walk from the island to the gate at low tide. But while we were there the tide was too high.
At the shrine we saw priests and priestesses (miko) in their traditional costumes. At every shrine and temple you can buy talisman and lucky charms for different purposes, for example for passing an exam, health and longevity, I also saw one for traffic safety and of course for happiness and love.
While we were on the island the weather was changing frequently from sunshine to rain, it was so windy and cold but we had fun. The island was very beautiful and quiet with lots of souvenir shops. Remarkable is that there are dozen of deers, running around freely, searching for food at the tourists. We also tried a specialily of Hiroshima — some kind of pastries in shape of a maple leaf which seems to be the symbol of the city.
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Back from the island we took the tram to the Peace Memorial Park and visited the Peace Memorial Museum. It took us a while with the tram and when we got there it was nearly dark outside. The Peace Park with the museum is a “must-do”, if you are in Hiroshima. The A-bomb Dome is the second UNESCO World Heritage in Hiroshima (the other one is Itsukushima Shinto Shrine). The museum is really amazing documenting Hiroshima’s history, World War 2nd and of course the event of August 5th, 1945, when the A-bomb detonated and the happenings after that day. Every memorial monument expresses the wish of peace.
At the end of the day we walked along the shopping street of Hiroshima and stopped by at a little restaurant to have udon soup. I felt so happy to eat the bowl of hot noodles after I was half frozen ^^. (The weather is like in Germany.) I also bought a Japanese style rice ball (orinigi) for the trip back to Osaka.
We saw so many school girls and boys in their school uniforms — so kawaii. I also wanna have one ><…
Anh Thu
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