Miyajima and Hiroshima - March 21st

The boys are gone and I miss them so much, but I suppose I will finish what I've started and keep blogging about the days spent with them.


In Miyajima, we stayed at a nice quaint inn.



It was run by a motherly old woman. When I called her to make the reservation:


Woman: When will you be arriving at the hotel?

Me: Some time at night.

Woman: Well night time, that's a long time, you have to be more specific, dear.

Me: Well, we'll definitely make it by the last ferry over.

Woman: Well the last ferry, no I think you should aim for the second to last ferry, because what if you miss the last one? In my experience, better safe than sorry.

Me: Yes, Mommm.


And then when we got there:


Me (to Phil and Steven): I bet she's going to say "Why hellooooo. So you did catch the second to last ferry, good gooood."

(Upon us entering) the woman: "Why hellooooo. So you did catch the second to last ferry, good goooood."


So we have a Miyajima Mom now. :)



After we checked out of the hotel, we went to Itsukushima Shrine again for the day view.

Here's me and the boys in front of the big gate:



Phil really loves the deer...



Inside the shrine:



Miyajima is known as one of the three great beauties of Japan. It's not hard to see why, with the shrine beautifully submerged in water when the tide is high.




After a full morning of Miyajima, we ferried back to Hiroshima for the Peace Memorial Park and Museum. To see the destruction of which the impact still continues is sobering, but it is also uplifting to see how Hiroshima has risen from the ashes and remains a city of peace to this day.

The Atomic Bomb Dome, preserved to look as it did just after the drop:



Thousands of paper cranes that are sent from all over the world in the hopes of peace:



Hiroshima before the bomb:



Hiroshima after the bomb:



Statue of Mother and Child in the Storm:



The A-Bomb Dome and Peace of Flame seen through the Memorial Cenotaph:




Personal ranting:
It was a great day, but due to miscalculations with time, things turn ugly for me here. It becomes apparent that I am in danger of not making it back to Chiba in time for my school's graduation the next day. Phil, Steven, and I hurry to the station, and I leave the two boys in a mad rush for the bullet train. I can hear the bell signaling the train's departure when I am going up the escalator, so I drag up my 40-kg suitcase up, somehow making it on. It's good to know I am on my way, but the train is crowded with Friday-night businessmen and travelers, resulting in me standing all the way from Hiroshima to Tokyo -- FOUR HOURS. And then, I realize that the local train to Chiba from Tokyo is not running to my station anymore at that late hour, which forces me to take a taxi from the closest station.

Can we just say... SUCKS?????