And we're off to Hiroshima (via a shinkansen on its way to Hakata):
Today's ekiben is provided by Asty Kyoto:
A nice little set that combined beef over rice, pickled vegetables, tamago (egg), and a croquette. I washed it down with some cool oolong tea.
A pretty uneventful ride, and it's Hiroshima:
Hiroshima kept a lot of the street cars that they inherited, and it's a decent way to get around the city. (Though I didn't have a chance to try it.)
As you'll come to notice, they really like deer in this area. (It's only rivaled by one other thing.)
My hotel room was pretty nice:
...with a nice view to boot!
The lobby was quite elegant too:
To get into heart of Hiroshima, it was actually more convenient for me to use the bus system instead of trains or taxis. You're charged basically on the amount of distance that you travel. Typically when you get on, you'll grab a ticket representing where you got on. A display will show you how much fare you owe if you get out at that point based on the number. (I got on at the beginning, so it was pretty easy.)
I primarily wanted to make it to the Hiroshima Peace Park. Surprisingly, there was wi-fi access at the park for free. I spent a lot of time looking around and taking pictures. I did miss the cut off to see the museum. You can read my thoughts here, and alternatively just view the pictures here: Bus service in Hiroshima didn't really run too late, and I didn't feel like having to cab it back. So I did a quick stroll of a nearby shopping district:
I did try to make it back to try to eat at the hotel, but I missed the cutoff for the restaurants. Thus, I just had a light snack and a drink at the hotel bar. It was a pretty pitch black which made looking out into the sea pretty nice. When I was outside, I did hear a lot of random shouting. I finally figured out where it was coming from:
Lastly, I noticed that the hotel had an onsen (hot spring) that would close pretty soon. I figured it would be a great time to try it for the first time. As I suspected, I really enjoyed it! We'll talk about it in a separate post. It wasn't until Hiroshima that I truly felt like a tourist. I'm not sure if was Peace Park, or the distance that I traveled to get there. It had quite a different feel that Tokyo, Kyoto or Osaka. One day left in Hiroshima, then I head all the way back to Tokyo in the late afternoon. -- day 5 end --
