We left Kyoto and took a train to the nearby town of Nara, which is famed for some of its religious sites. The coolest thing we did in Nara was take a walk recommended by our guide book. It took us to all the hotspots: the largest wooden building in the world (housing the largest bronze statue of Buddha in the world), a beautiful overlook of the Nara plains, and another temple which is surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of stone lanterns. The lanterns line all the paths leading to the temple complex and it is like being in a different world.
Nara is also home to a population of domesticated deer, who walk around town milling about with all the people! You can pet them and feed them - we bought some "deer cookies" from local street vendors and made lots of friends that way!
After enjoying the sights of Nara, we awoke the next morning to travel onward to Hiroshima, site of the first atomic bomb drop on August 6, 1945. There is an excellent museum there which chronicles what happened in Hiroshima before, during, and after the blast. The official monument to the attack is the Atomic Bomb Dome, a ruined building that survived the disaster because it happened to be directly underneath the bomb when it exploded in mid-air above the city, thereby missing all the shockwaves of the explosion. It was fascinating and thought provoking, to say the least.
Enjoy the collection of photos from both sites!!!
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| Traditional Japanese breakfast! Little plates of fruit, tofu, fish, etc... |
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| Sean bought a coke at the train station. |
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| Deer pics. Sometimes they descended on children who freaked out, screaming and trying to get away... |
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| The largest wooden building in the world - Todai-ji. |
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| The bronze Buddha. Immense... photos don't really convey its size... |
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| Statues ringed the Todai-ji temple. |
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| The ascent up the mountain side to arrive at the overlook |
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| The overlook of Nara and its plain. The huge building on the left is the Todai-ji. |
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| The hidden lanterns in the forest... |
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| Lion guarding the lantern complex... |
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| Street food break! We split an order of octopus fritters and a beer. Very good! |
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| SUPERMARKET SLAM! |
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| The supermarket sake collection. |
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| Beautiful Nara |
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| The transfer to Hiroshima - photo ambush! |
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| View of the memorial site from the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. |
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| Many of the items on display in the museum were heartbreaking. One of them was this melted tricycle. |
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| The peace flame - it will only be extinguished when all nuclear weapons are destroyed. |
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| The Atomic Bomb Dome building/memorial. |
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| Debris is still scattered where it fell the day of the bombing. |
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| After a heavy day of travel and museums/walking, we took a stroll through Hiroshima's entertainment district. You would never know the city had been completely destroyed and rebuilt in the past seventy years. It is a vibrant place with a lot of character and fun places to visit. We grabbed a couple drinks, chatted up a local, and grabbed dinner. |
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| We also got a kick out of Hiroshima's baseball team - the Hiroshima Carp. They use the same logo and uniform as our very own Cincinnati Reds!! |
More coming soon...... Stay tuned!
Sean bought a coke.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this great adventure. So many temples, statues, gardens, museums and foods - reminds me of China in many ways. I've enjoyed traveling along with you two. Look forward to more of your blog. Tina LePere
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