hello tokyo bye bye osaka

Day 8: Hiroshima - Miyajima Island - Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and Museum

Today we were off to Miyajima Island - one of my most favourite places in Japan. To get there, we took the long, but scenic streetcar journey from Hiroshima to the ferry terminal.

It was such a beautiful, balmy spring day on Miyajima Island - I couldn't of ask for a more perfect weather. As we made our way towards the famous o-torii gates for a better view, we could see deers lazing around and food vendors selling things from corncobs to fries along the way.

Seeing the o-torii gates felt like having a postcard moment. I could of spend all day just watching it float there in the tidal waters, it was so serene that even the commotion of tourists around me couldn't interrupt the view.

As we entered the Itsukushima Shrine, we spotted ourselves a Shinto Wedding. How lucky! Making a beeline, I could see so many other tourists snapping away that it doesn't take very long for the bride and groom to feel overwhelmed by all the attention.

Taking the stairs up to the Tahoto Pagoda we notice so many beautiful cherry blossoms on this side of the island. The view of the o-torii gates from this shrine were especially breathtaking and from there you could also see the Five Storied Pagoda.

After studying the Miyajima Guide Map, we decided to take the less physical route to get to the top, this meant going through Momijidani Park (deer park) to start the ropeways. It was here, I stumbled across some of the most beautiful cherry blossoms on my entire Japan trip, the yae-sakura variety.

Riding the ropeways reminded me of taking the Skyrail in Cairns. The views from the ropeways were amazing and when we finally got to Shishiwa Station (where you can see the views 430m above sea level) it was even more majestic.

There were so many ways to get down from the mountain. Instead of taking the ropeways back, we decided to hike it down, a decision I hope I wouldn't later come to regret.

After working up a serious appetite from all the hiking, we decided we would eat at the next food place we saw, whenever that would be.....

An hour and half later, we FINALLY got to sit in front of our well deserved bowl of udon. After scoffing it all down, my friend confesses that her 500 yen bowl of udon tasted better than the 12 450 yen she spent on Kaiseki. Sometimes it's the simple things that are best and in our case, nothing beats a bowl of humble udon when you're starving! 

After our fitness session on the mountain, we decided that it was time to leave the island. 

When we finally arrived at the A-bomb Dome site it was already late in the afternoon. We saw hundreds of cranes adorning various memorial sites as we made our way towards the Peace Memorial Museum. At the Cenotaph for the A-bomb victims lots of tourists gathered around, some lighting incense while others prayed.

By the the time we reached the Peace Memorial Museum it was 4pm. We decided not to take the audio and instead do the readings. You need hours for this museum and we only got to see half before the closing time was announced. I really wanted to see the rest of the museum, so we decided to come back the next day to finish it.