Torii

After we arose and had breakfast in Starbucks... we got the train out to Miyajimaguchi to get the ferry over to Itsukushima island which has a shrine worthy of a visit with a gate/torii on the beach, hence the main blip! Even the ferry was covered by our rail pass! As we were arriving, the tide was in and people were wading around it. It was first built in the 11th century but this one was from 1875 and there are various other shrines and temples on the island.

I am going to run out of extras by the end of this holiday so I've decided to double (or more) up the extras, makes it easier and quicker to choose them too! Extra one is various photos around the island so from left to right, top to bottom #1 has a deer trying to steel some paper out of someone's bag. As soon as we got off the ferry, there were warnings that they do this and should be stopped from doing so, but this woman just watched until paper was stolen, I decided to save the deer by tugging it out of its mouth. They were everywhere, sitting in shop doorways, waiting for people to come out, they soon sniffed the peaches and oranges we were eating too. In #2 we had to wash our hands before going in to the shrine's buildings which were on piers. #3 shows a view out to the gate and onto a museum on the mainland, of course everything aligned and finally #4 of the view of the gate back to the mainland.

When we returned to Hiroshima we walked through the Memorial Peace Park and to the museum. In extra 2 #1, there were a lot of TV crews around and when we go to the Peace Pond, there was an old woman being filmed as she seemed to be paying her respects. There is obviously a story to that. In #2, there is another shot of the Atomic Bomb Dome, this time in daylight, rather than nighttime yesterday. Finally the museum, it was both very moving and fascinating with stories, photos and belongings from people at the time and information about some of the politics both before and after the bomb, and fact I was unaware of and a bit ashamed I didn't know. We  usually only hear the story from one side, but hearing the personal stories was just heartbreaking... we left quite subdued and reflective.

So finally a streetcar back to the station for the trip on the Shinkansen to Osaka ahead of our flight to leg 2 of our holiday tomorrow night. We didn't get checked in until 11.30pm and we took a wander around part of the city to see it lit up, but I'll save any of those photos for tomorrow, since it was after midnight.