Steps today: 15 540 / 10.25km
This was the day trip I was looking forward to the most: Hiroshima
We got off to a rocky start buying our bullet train tickets - we only bought the express train supplement instead of the full ticket. OOPS. Easily fixed but the station was so hectic and chaotic that it was a bit stressful. Plus, I didn't want to miss the train while wasting time in line buying the second part of the ticket! It all turned out well in the end, we didn't miss the train and travelled the 90 minutes in great comfort.
It was such a solemn and moving day, and it was also a bit trippy and sobering to see such an important historical monument in person.
The whole area that makes up the Hiroshima Peace Memoria Park is full of monuments that all honour different aspects of the infamous events.
The Memorial Hall to the Victims was very moving and frankly a bunch of pictures in a blog can't do any justice to it. It's really something to experience in person.
The museum was incredible and you could spend days in there if you read all the information for each exhibit.
I always thought this was a myth....
We headed back to Osaka by about 3:30, and I did something "more correct" at the ticket machine because this time I got a 2 in 1 ticket. Whatever!
Back in Osaka, we were hungry because lunch was just an egg salad sandwich and mocha coffee around 11AM
We found an Italian restaurant and pushed the boat out with a bottle of wine, starters, and full meals. As we were eating, I felt a tiny little rumbling, just like when a subway rolls by under the street. I said to Frank: "Did you feel that?" He replied: "What?" and then the whole place started to shake! Light fixtures swinging, the works! I was frozen in place. Then everyone's phone in the whole place started going off, including mine.
I instinctively just watched the locals. What are they doing? If they dive under the table, I am following... the couple at the table next to us looked a little frozen too which was unsettling, but in hindsight I think they were just on high alert to see if it kept going... and then it was all over and life went on as if noting had happened. It was such a freaky experience! It was not a violent shake, Frank said it best when he compared it to a roller coaster - like the whole restaurant was on a ride.
It lingered with me a little after, the ground beneath your feet is a solidity you take for granted and it was a very strange feeling to think it was not.
Turns out this was the 6th earthquake of the day, but thankfully just the only one we felt!
No comments:
Post a Comment