Lots of cranes hanging at a monument.
Day: March 27, 2005
We went back to the Peace Park to go to the Hiroshima Museum. It covered the devastation that happened in the city when the atomic bomb was dropped and then recovery after the war. It also had some exibits about nuclear war in general. It was a sobering experience to see again what kind of damage atomic weapons do. MDF hurried us along through the museum, but we managed to see enough of the exibits and make a new record for time viewing the exibits (about 45 minutes I think).
On the way back to the park we were passed by a number of grade school marching bands that were parading in the street. Some of the Japanese children were dwarfed by their instruments, but they were all good musicians for their age.
After we sat in the park for a while, the decision was made to go back to shops once more, mainly to visit Deodeo, an “electronics and more” store. The store had about 10 floors, each having a different department (computers, lighting, audio, etc). On the ground floor they had lots of digital cameras on display. I stopped and looked at a number of different brands, Canon, Nikon. I even got to try out one I had been interested in, a Pentax *ist D.
We had a lot of fun yesterday at Hiroshima. We took the local train from Iwakuni. The train going there must have been old, because it swayed and rocked a lot — making at least three of us sick. Still we got there in one piece. We got off at a station on the outskirts of the city and walked down a block to catch the trolley to downtown.
A local train at Iwakuni Station
We started out at the Peace Park and right away we saw the Atomic Dome — one of the few buildings that was left standing after the Atomic bomb exploded over the city. It may have been cleaned up some, but it has been left a ruin like it was at the end of World War Two.
The Atomic Dome
We walked further into the park and looked at the various monuments that have been erected to promote peace. Eventually we decided it was time for lunch and we headed toward one of the covered streets where all the stores and restaurants were.
We ate at Italian restaurant called The Garlic House. CDF and I had spaghetti; mine had mushrooms hers had a side of garlic-flavored egg plant. We ordered sweet garlic bread too, it came topped with butter and roasted garlic cloves. MDF sampled off everyone’s plate. I think she liked the bread and some potatoes from Vasco the best.
Eating at the Garlic House.
After lunch, on our way out I stopped at a Konica shop that was down a side street to look for a memory card for my camera. I found some but didn’t like the price so we moved on. The next store we stopped at was an Andersen’s bakery. It was a great looking bakery. In addition to bread, they sold cheese, wine, flowers, and jam. CDF and I picked out some sweet breads, donuts, and muffins to sample. In all I think we spent around 1,000 Yen. We sampled one donut outside and saved the rest for when we got home.