Hiroshima

This morning we were off to the train station.  We packed our belongings and off we went for our last 2 days in Japan.

We were getting on the very last car, so we were waiting at the end of the station.



Neither of these were our train, but they look likes eels going down the tracks.


So we arrived at our hotel.  This was the view from our window.

 

As we were gathering to go out, we saw wedding photos being taken in the lobby.  Not the traditional Japanese wedding, so they must have been of a Christian faith.


We walked down the street to our destination, the Hiroshima Peace Park.  We crossed one of the 6 rivers in this city.

This beautiful fountain is set at the street in front of the museum.


And this is the museum we visited.


The museum is all about this.


I don’t even want to keep as a photo much of anything I saw in the museum.  It is heart-wrenching.  Just know that Hiroshima was targeted because of its geographical position.  The A-bomb dropped on it August 6, 1945, would do the most damage and kill the most people.  Nagasaki was much the same, 3 days later.  The people who died right away were the lucky ones.  I can’t imagine the suffering some of these people had - everyone from the elderly to babies, and even unborn children.  It was certainly a somber experience.

This is the peace arch in the park.  It looks out to the dome of a local manufacturing building, which is the only remnant standing since before Aug 6, 1945.


We left here and went back to our hotel for a while.  We were set to go out to dinner around 7-7:30 pm.  We went to an okonomiyaki place, which was a lot of fun - much needed after what we saw today.  This is a Japanese pancake with a variety of ingredients.

We all sat around the grill...


...and watched as they kept adding ingredients...


...even a flattened egg on the side opposite the crepe...


...and then they chopped it all up into edible squares...


 ...and slide it all onto a plate, ready for consumption.  It was pretty good, I must say.


Oh, and I had a GRASS of wine with it.


As we walked back to our hotel, we passed a very colourful building.


There are lots of people out on the streets tonight, but then it’s Saturday night.  We also saw this moving crab on the side of a building.  It’s top 2 arms moved back and forth.


That was the end of a day of mixed emotions.








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