When in Kobe...

As usual when I am taking photographs, I am thinking about which will become blips and which one will be the main blip. But a late night decision to take a trip down to the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Dome put all that out the window, but I will come to that.

Today was mainly a speed touristo day in Kobe... so first up we cable-carred it up to the Nunobiki Herb Garden which is on a hill high over Kobe. It was a bit like a botanical gardens, for herbs and a glasshouse etc... but there was also a herb foot bath which you can sit in (feet) looking down over Kobe - extras #1 and #2. Ooh the bath was good, toasty! Only 70p fpr the use of a towel!

Then we decided to go for a Kobe Beef lunch... when in Kobe and all that. We sat at a kind of bar facing a hot plate where a chef prepared the food. He then cut our beef steaks into different types of cut and began cooking them in turn and recommending how to eat it... with salt, pepper and garlic, mustard and soya sauce, with beansprouts and vinegar, along with vegetables and rice. Not only was it fascinating to watch, but the meat was just amazing... I have never tasted steak like it, melt in your mouth they say... and then as we left thoroughly well fed and pleased, my wallet melted... it's not cheap! But we didn't need any dinner at night so we can half the price immediately! Multiblip can be seen in extra #3.

So, 4pm in Kobe with a train to catch at 6.22pm, what to do, get the loop bus around town that's what. We had time to stop by the harbour development before getting on the bus back to the station. In 1995 Kobe was devastated by an earthquake and was widely rebuilt. We decided to come here from Kyoto to contrast the old with the new. Extra #4 shows part of the original harbour that had sunk into the sea.

Anyway, we made the train and service was back to normal, efficient as ever. Much of this line from Osaka is through tunnels, often 10 minutes at nearly 200mph, they must be lengthy! We didn't have wi-fi on these trains (oh Scotrail does) so it was difficult to tell how far we were with google maps, but we got off at what we thought was Hiroshima, got down to the station exit, checked google maps and it said we were at a similar sounding station maybe 40 miles before Hiroshima! Shinkansen trains don't hang about, it had left within a few mins, so we found the next train leaving in 10 mins, which we got on, sat down, checked google maps, OMG... we WERE in Hiroshima after all, rushed off the train before it left, phew. What's going on google maps!! Anyway, hotel was right next to station which was nice, and then we got our room.... I'd forgotten it was a corner room so Ms H's bed looked out North and West! And it was only £10 more than last night and relatively cheap in comparison to all the hotels we have booked. We decided to go for a quick swim,  and were in their ourselves, with quite extensive range of facilities in the changing rooms! Oh yeah, extra #5.

And finally... to the main blip, the guide book suggested visiting the atomic bomb site late at night was recommended as it would be quiet and good for taking photographs. We came to Hiroshima to see this and the museum (tomorrow)... on 6th August 1945 at 8.15am, the Enola Gay dropped the first nuclear weapon used in anger. It exploded 600m above this dome building in the blip and due to the angles, survived. Buildings in the surrounding 1 mile were flattened, so they decided to preserve it. Nearby a bell is sounded every day at 8.15am. I am sure we'll learn much about it all tomorrow, but it was very quiet and peaceful around this area, some people were sitting by the river chatting (11pm), toads were croaking away in unison... I wonder how often people who live here think about it all, or has it just become part of normal life now. I wonder how it has affected the Japanese in general...