A little catch up in no particular order

Hiroshima

We got up early morning, had some breakfast and made a sprint out to go see the Peace Museum. It was pretty graphic at some points. Not to the point of blood and guts but it got it's point across in a fairly authoritative message. Nukes are bad. The first floor focusses a lot on the day that Little Boy dropped on Hiroshima and killed a huge amount of people. There is a reconstruction of the top of the Atomic Bomb Dome that is lined with letters protesting the storage of nuclear armaments. There are cases showing replicas of documents approving the use of the weapons and a meeting with Einstein etc. It also had historical footage of the explosion and models showing a before and after. (They are masters of the model in Japan I think) The destruction of Hiroshima was crazy. Please see the photos of the models and photos of the destruction. This is an exhibit I think everyone should see at some point in their lives just to see exactly what can happen with the push of a button. Also of note is that Little Boy was a tenth of the power of current atomic bombs. And Hydrogen bombs are even more destructive I believe.

Proceeding through the exhibit they showed a hall that had rubble lining both sides and then a pretty scary wax model size of an adult and child I believe after the blast in a burning city as they are almost melting suffering from burns etc. A reconstruction model of the bomb itself shows just how small a bomb was used to create such energy. One of the most moving pieces I found was a tricycle that I've shown below I think. Really sad. They had full rooms of material - rock, glass, etc. - that had fused under the heat and pressure. It's all crazy.

To say the least, this didn't leave Joanie, Maya and myself all that happy so they had some ice cream to deal a little and we went off to the Shopping arcade. Joanie bought a wicked Yukata there. I'm sure she has a picture of it on her blog. Please check it out on there. Oh right, a Yukata is a simplified Kimono. It's much lighter and often used before and after shower time, kind of like a house coat. Often like before bath in an onsen there are no clothes worn underneath. They are super comfy!

We left Hiroshima and headed off for Nagasaki. I think we had 3 trains along the way and for some reason a number of us were left feeling ill. We think it was how stuffy the train was. This was also when I almost missed the train. These were all Sinkansen's or Highspeed trains. Our first train of the day we had reserved seats which is good cause it was going to be really busy because of golden week. The second train however we did not have reserved seats and as a result we were standing in a crowded train. Joanie was feeling ill after the first train and we had 20 minutes before the next train. The thing is since we didn't have reserved seats we had to line up and once the train stopped we'd have to scramble for a seat on the unreserved car. Being the very caring boyfriend I am, I ran as fast as I could in search for some ginger ale to help settle Joanie's stomach. I had to go outside the JR gates to the food area of the station and didn't find any so I got some cream soda (which Joanie says helps) from a vending machine and ran back. I got back at the same place I left on the right platform but I didn't see anyone. I started running then turned around and saw Alan waving me in a little distance away. I pretty much sprinted to him and the door. The train waits for NOONE! I barely made it onto the train and Joanie totally thought I had missed it also.

That little adventure aside we all got into the Nagasaki hotel and wanted some break time before seeing any of the city. There were paper cranes on our Yukatas on our beds. It made everyone feeling a little ill feel better. A few of us ventured back to the station (a good 10 minutes) to get some snacks to make it to the next meal and all was well. I can't remember what we ate at all.

The next day in Nagasaki was a free day so a number of us went for a small breakfast and bought some beer at the supermarket and sat in the park for most of the afternoon chatting and sipping on beer and watching all the families out and about. It was really great to see so many people out. I think that was a Sunday so everyone was up to their family day activities. The sights were pretty nice in Nagasaki by the water though there wasn't all that much to do. That night we went out for Indian food. Delicious! It was the first time I went out for Indian. I had some butter chicken and some nan and rice. Everything was amazing! A little spicey but so flavourful. I couldn't wait to eat Indian again.

The next day we were on our way to Kyoto. So EXCITED! We arrived in Kyoto to a really nice hotel. Too fancy I think. The elevators had a nice view of the train station that was right across the street and we could the trains arrive and depart like clockwork. A shopping mall was connected to our hotel so I literally had to walk less than 5 minutes to shop for clothes. This was great cause before we went to dinner that night I went into the uniqlo clothes shop and bought some underwear and socks. I at the least needed these to be fresh even if my jeans were a little funky and my shirts were on another rotation. Luckily I found things that fit. Extra large boxers and the biggest socks I could find. The boxers were a perfect fit. Um.. yeah.. crazy eh? The socks.. well I could see my feet when I put the socks on but I just kinda bunched em up and they were alright. Kinda comfy even. We went to eat that night, the place wasn't that great but we did do laundry that night. In the tub! ROCK! Oh my  what a job and did we have anywhere to hang things? Not really. Our entire room was like a clothes line. Crazy!

I did forget one thing. Between Nagasaki and Kyoto we stopped at Himeji to see Himeji castle. What a fiasco. I'll write about that a little later. Right now we're off to dinner and then to the Hyatt!

Rock from Tokyo!

Love you all.