We left the hotel 05.50 in the morning to participate in the peace memorial of the victims of the atomic bombing that took place in Hiroshima exactly 70 years ago. The ceremony was really beautiful and emotional with approximately 40 000 visitors, so it was pretty crowded in the memorial park. Afterwards we had our first, and only, day off to do what we wanted. So we all decided on going to Miyajima Island just outside of Hiroshima. We took a ferry to the island and the ride was so beautiful, the landscape here is amazing- the mountains surround the entire city! On the Island there are actually tame deers which was amazing, they walked right up to us and wanted to be petted.
There was so much to see on the Island and we got to see two different temples- both of them were breathtaking. In the evening we went to a latern ceremony, also very beautiful. Japan has so much history to offer for both natives and tourists. It truly is amazing to experience this.
The only kind of challenging thing was the weather, it is very hot and humid during the summer months in Japan. Oh, we are also struggling with ordering food sometimes- it can truly be quite an adventure when you do not speak Japanese and the staff does not speak English. It is not always quite clear what you are ordering, but so far we have managed quite well. Ellinor accidently ordered super-spicy Korean noodles, she will never make that mistake again.
