Monday, 30 September 2013
Takayama
Apparwntly the name means tall mountains, but we were pleasantly surprised at the gentle hills. We arrived safe and sound and gound our accommodation. This place is remarkable. The staff are wonderful, the food amazing, and our surroundings endlessly peaceful.
We spent our day in the Hida historical village and exploring the town itself, which is very traditional. It is filled with heritage listed buildings and an example of a centuries old shogunate administration building - the ladt of its kind in Japan.
The village itself, in my mind, can best be described as a Japanese Hobbiton. Headed to Kyoyo tomorrow morning, and without further ado - here's the photos!
Sunday, 29 September 2013
Homeikan Ryokan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxGN9LsTvAE&feature=youtube_gdata_player
This was our first wonderful accommodation in Tokyo :)
Day 8 - Hiroshima
We walked to the Hiroshima Peace Gardens and Atomic Bomb memorial. It is difficult to express in words how moving it was. It was all at once filled with grief, regret, hope, and an impassioned plea for the abolition of nuclear arms worldwide.
Museum complexes are dedicated to those lives affected by the blast, from those orphaned and left alone, those who died slow and painful deaths from burns and radiation poisoning and those whose only trace were shadows burnt onto the walls and steps of buildings.
It was a confronting and provoking morning and not an experience I will soon forget.
After lunch we explored the city some more, doing a bit of shopping and lapping up the far less hectic atmosphere.
However, this will always be the day I had the opportunity to experience and share the grief of countless others and share their hope for a future free from the horror that occurred in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 1945.
Friday, 27 September 2013
Day 7 - Miyajima
So...we climbed a mountain today. Well, a lot of it at least. Miyajima is a small island about a half hour train trip and then short ferry ride from Hiroshima. It is home to the famous red gate that is synonymous with Japan. It's also home to an amazing shrine, sacred wild deer, lots of shops and Mt Misen. I think I will just let the photos speak for themselves at this point.
Just amazing.
Also, many of the little statues were dressed up like this. We didn't do that.
Day 6 - Hiroshima
We breakfasted bright and early this morning and went to the station to catch the Shinkansen (bullet train). Lots of us bought bento box lunches at the station, and others (me included) bought their lunch on the train. The scenery was moving very fast of course, but it offered an amazing view of many different towns and cities and countryside.
When we arrived in Hiroshima, we caught the tram to our accommodation and dropped off our stuff before heading back to the tram and off to Hiroshima castle for an explore. Then it was a delicious sushi train or ramen noodle dinner before heading back home.
Up nice a early tomorrow to travel to Miyajima, the red gate, the cable cars and maybe even monkeys!
Day 6 - leaving Tokyo
This morning we bid farewell to our wonderful first accommodation. We were so well looked after and experienced so many new things (I love Japanese baths - just saying). As always, breakfast was amazing and was a great start to the busy day ahead.
Wednesday, 25 September 2013
Day 4 - Ueno and Senso-ji
We spand another day wandering around in Tokyo, this time taking a scenic walk to the Ueno gardens, home to a great zoo, Tokyo national museum and the Tokugawa Ieyasu shrine. We split up, with one group going to the zoo and the other to the museum, before meeting back together for lunch and then on to the shrine.
We followed that up with activating our rail passes for the remainder of the trip and then onto the Senso-ji shrine.
It was homeward bound after a stop off for dinner, and we'll be up bright and early tomorrow morning to head to Hiroshima on the bullet train!
Tuesday, 24 September 2013
Disneyland!
We had another long, but awesome day at Disneyland. Rides and food and shopping and a great time were had by all.
