Day 7

This morning, after our earliest start of the holiday, I really regretted those extra beers last night

I thought I’d save time by not showering but once I looked at myself in the mirror I had to change my mind

I’m normally a mess but this was a different level

After breakfast we got to use our JR pass for the first time and we took the train to Shin-Osaka

From there we were to take the BULLET Train to Hiroshima

It was as glorious looking as I’d hoped




We weren’t sitting together but we all had so much room




This is me with my legs fully extended

I was logging in to the super free Wi-Fi and genuinely didn’t notice we’d started to move - it was SO smooth

The whole ride was - what a shit service we get back in the UK

We covered the 206 miles in 90 minutes, including 4 stops in between - by my maths that’s nearly 140mph on average which includes stopping 4 times in the middle !!!

Also, all the attendants are dressed head to toe in a military style uniform and as they walk to the end of the carriage and open the door to leave, they turn round and bow to all the passengers respectfully 

I love it

When we arrived (on time obviously) we then went for our 3rd mode of transport in Japan - the tram




This took us to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park where we first encountered the Genbaku Dome-Mae - otherwise known as the Atomic Bomb Dome





The only reason it stands today is that it was directly below (600m below) the bomb when it detonated and so most of the force went outward

We then walked to the museum















Inside there were harrowing pictures, artefacts and recitals of what happened on that day and the days to come

We took no pictures here and there was no joking around - quite the experience

I do have to comment, however, that I had to compose myself before going in as Joss thought the sign that said “foot dispenser” for the hand sanitiser meant it would go over your feet rather than you use your foot to get the dispenser to work…..

After we took the tram back to the station and found a department store that had Doug’s Burgers in it - a burger franchise created in Miyako-jima 

The meat tasted different to the norm and it was delicious 

We then toured the shops for a while before taking the bullet train back

We went out for dinner hell bent on finding a Japanese meal that kieren could cope with but in the area we looked we simply couldn’t find somewhere selling chicken/rice dishes so we had to settle for what the Japanese consider “Italian”

I had Japanese style bacon and mushroom miso carbonara with chopsticks



It was delicious 

Then we took the kids to the British bar but again there was no real British to Japanese conversion as they wouldn’t give me a pint of cola with no ice for kieren - the best they could do is a half pint

Still, the rest of us had pints and he didn’t want the 3 drinks we’d allotted so maybe it worked in our favour

Joss and I were going to carry on at the hotel bar but they’ve closed - in hindsight probably for the best …

Another hugely enjoyable day


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