God it’s hard to write this tonight. I’m pissed and as full as a goog. Starting backwards we’ve just had dinner at the hotel bistro. The ‘all you can eat’ variety and for an additional $15 all the alcohol you can consume. Can you believe it…how responsible is that??? Anyway we went at it hard in the best ‘value for money style’ and we both believe we did it justice in all categories i.e. food, desert and alcohol. Far be it from me to go into detail because what happens on holiday stays on holiday but we can proudly say we got value for money.
Hiroshima as you either know from experience or can well imagine, is a very interesting place to explore. So many observations that it is more a conversation than an email. In precis, we went to the A Bomb Dome, the peace monuments on the way and of course the Peace Memorial Museum. All very moving and how could you not come away wondering how such a thing could ever happen. And indeed the why it happened is a challenging question, the human suffering a clear crime without doubt. But having so recently been to Berlin/ Dresden etc I think that overwhelmingly I came away with huge respect for the German understanding of their own war crimes. This is in contrast to the Japanese understanding of their own part in creating the massive tragedy that occurred here. Too philosophical?? I thought so!! But for me food for thought. Rose definitely thinks I bang on too much and I’m sure you will too so enough said!!
But one last word. There are so many contradictions in trying to understand this culture and we are nowhere close to it. Just when you start to think that there are anomalies and so many nuances, the people take your breathe away with their charm and kindness. Yesterday when Rose and I were scuttling along in the rain without protection, both of us, independently, had people come up to us and share their umbrellas as we walked along the street….sometimes you just can’t believe the kindness. On the other side of the coin you could die waiting for someone to give up their seat for you on the train or bus…forget it!!
After the peace memorials(multiple) we took ourselves to the Castle. Rose climbed the tower but I stayed on ground level. Someone had to take her photo up there! Then back here to our luxury establishment for an afternoon break and a drink then to dinner…i.e. back to the start.
Tomorrow we are taking the ferry over to Miyajima. That will be an adventure…even getting ourselves to the ferry terminal will be its own little challenge. Off to bed…I think I’ll take a panadol before I go to bed as a prophylaxis to a hangover.