DAY 3 - HIROSHIMA/HIMEJI CASTLE
As this was another packed day for us, we decided to leave the hotel as quickly as we could. Little did we know that the breakfast buffet they had at the hotel would be so varied and so completely delicious. As it was 6:30 a.m. when we got to our breakfast place, there were not too many patrons there. It was there that we first saw a chef preparing a custom omelette using only chopsticks! So many different fresh juices, delicacies, and pasties - but wehad to leave in exactly 20 minutes to catch the train to Kyoto Station. You see, we had a long ways to go before we could reach the city of historical significance - HIROSHIMA.
The ride from Kyoto to Hiroshima was our first on the "Shinkansen" (bullet train), and one we were eagerly anticipating. If you feel the need for speed, the cheaper alternative to a Ferrari would be a ride on the blazingly quick Shinkansens that populate the railway tracks of Japan. To me they seem like huge snakes that bob and weave their way through many cities; criss-crossing one another, moving people and more importantly - the economy. If you were waiting in any station, and if one of the faster shinkansens were to pass you by,the whole train would just be one big blur...that's how fast those contraptions are!
After reaching Hiroshima, we took a bus to get to the Atomic Bomb Dome, one of the few buildings around the explosion's epicenter that partially survived the blast, and the city's only remaining bomb damaged building. This is one of those buildings that I am sure nobody enjoys visiting; but it would be a sin to be in Japan and not come here. What we found out was that many Hiroshima residents were very much in favour of demolishing this building, as they wanted nothing to do with the past. Fortunately, the opposing school of thought prevailed, and this building is a UNESCO World Heritage site; and serves as a grim and ghastly reminder of how it could all come tumbling down.
Having come this far, we had to visit the Peace Memorial Museum. As I had visited this museum before, I warned Indu about how mentally disturbing the graphic displays of the A-bomb's horrible effects could potentially be. She insisted we still go there, and we did. There we would learn many things - facts, figures, statistics etc (the details of which we will spare you!)...more importantly we would learn that nothing is more precious than life itself....yet we take it for granted.
Luckily for us, there were so many school children enjoying their field trips on that particular day. These little tots with their carefree spirits and can-do attitudes helped alleviate what we were going through. Many of them would cheerfully wave at us, and we took photographs with all of them. If we don't save the planet for them, what are we really doing here?
We could have hung around Hiroshima and seem some more, but we had to make it to Himeji to climb the awesomest castle of them all - HIMEJI Castle aka Taj Mahal of Japan. This castle was built in the 14th century and serves as a classic example of Japanese medieval architecture. Some historians speculate that it took 25 million man days to build this castle. The Himeji castle was never used in battle, which is why it is so well preserved. However, it's solid and well-thought out construction would have confounded and exhausted any opposing army. No visit to Japan would be complete without a visit to this castle, which resembles a "bird about to take flight".
For some reason, we walked out of the wrong exit at the Himeji station. A Japanese businessman who spoke perfect English guided us in the right direction, and advised us to take a bus (as opposed to a cab) to the castle. Himeji castle at first glance is simply breathtaking and awe-inspiring. Yet, the more time we spent scaling the castle and studying the inner-workings, the more our respect and admiration multiplied!
On our way to the entrance, we met this older couple from Eastern Europe (our guess), and asked if it was worth our time to go all the way to the top of the castle. They replied that we must do it having come this far, and mentioned that it was bit of a trek but worth it. Little did we know that going all the way to the top requires you to be fit, nimble and abit of an acrobat (with 20/20 vision)! Upon entering the castle, you have to walk quite a bit upwards, before you can get to the indoors. Once you are in, there are several floors you need to scale, before you can get to the top. The stairs between floors are steep, treacherous and sometimes very dimly lit. Once/IF you get to the top, it is really cool - both figuratively and actually - there is a lot of air circulation going on..you can catch your breath and enjoy an awesome view of the city from there.
Soon we were back on our way to Kyoto. We had planned to stop at Kobe, but were exhausted from all the traveling we had done the last couple of days. Back at the hotel, we freshened up and were planning an evening out when we decided to just hang back, relax and enjoy the hotel....in the back of our minds we were falling in love with Kyoto and just did not want to leave this beautiful city.
The ride from Kyoto to Hiroshima was our first on the "Shinkansen" (bullet train), and one we were eagerly anticipating. If you feel the need for speed, the cheaper alternative to a Ferrari would be a ride on the blazingly quick Shinkansens that populate the railway tracks of Japan. To me they seem like huge snakes that bob and weave their way through many cities; criss-crossing one another, moving people and more importantly - the economy. If you were waiting in any station, and if one of the faster shinkansens were to pass you by,the whole train would just be one big blur...that's how fast those contraptions are!
After reaching Hiroshima, we took a bus to get to the Atomic Bomb Dome, one of the few buildings around the explosion's epicenter that partially survived the blast, and the city's only remaining bomb damaged building. This is one of those buildings that I am sure nobody enjoys visiting; but it would be a sin to be in Japan and not come here. What we found out was that many Hiroshima residents were very much in favour of demolishing this building, as they wanted nothing to do with the past. Fortunately, the opposing school of thought prevailed, and this building is a UNESCO World Heritage site; and serves as a grim and ghastly reminder of how it could all come tumbling down.
Having come this far, we had to visit the Peace Memorial Museum. As I had visited this museum before, I warned Indu about how mentally disturbing the graphic displays of the A-bomb's horrible effects could potentially be. She insisted we still go there, and we did. There we would learn many things - facts, figures, statistics etc (the details of which we will spare you!)...more importantly we would learn that nothing is more precious than life itself....yet we take it for granted.
Luckily for us, there were so many school children enjoying their field trips on that particular day. These little tots with their carefree spirits and can-do attitudes helped alleviate what we were going through. Many of them would cheerfully wave at us, and we took photographs with all of them. If we don't save the planet for them, what are we really doing here?
We could have hung around Hiroshima and seem some more, but we had to make it to Himeji to climb the awesomest castle of them all - HIMEJI Castle aka Taj Mahal of Japan. This castle was built in the 14th century and serves as a classic example of Japanese medieval architecture. Some historians speculate that it took 25 million man days to build this castle. The Himeji castle was never used in battle, which is why it is so well preserved. However, it's solid and well-thought out construction would have confounded and exhausted any opposing army. No visit to Japan would be complete without a visit to this castle, which resembles a "bird about to take flight".
For some reason, we walked out of the wrong exit at the Himeji station. A Japanese businessman who spoke perfect English guided us in the right direction, and advised us to take a bus (as opposed to a cab) to the castle. Himeji castle at first glance is simply breathtaking and awe-inspiring. Yet, the more time we spent scaling the castle and studying the inner-workings, the more our respect and admiration multiplied!
On our way to the entrance, we met this older couple from Eastern Europe (our guess), and asked if it was worth our time to go all the way to the top of the castle. They replied that we must do it having come this far, and mentioned that it was bit of a trek but worth it. Little did we know that going all the way to the top requires you to be fit, nimble and abit of an acrobat (with 20/20 vision)! Upon entering the castle, you have to walk quite a bit upwards, before you can get to the indoors. Once you are in, there are several floors you need to scale, before you can get to the top. The stairs between floors are steep, treacherous and sometimes very dimly lit. Once/IF you get to the top, it is really cool - both figuratively and actually - there is a lot of air circulation going on..you can catch your breath and enjoy an awesome view of the city from there.
Soon we were back on our way to Kyoto. We had planned to stop at Kobe, but were exhausted from all the traveling we had done the last couple of days. Back at the hotel, we freshened up and were planning an evening out when we decided to just hang back, relax and enjoy the hotel....in the back of our minds we were falling in love with Kyoto and just did not want to leave this beautiful city.
posted by ACV | 8:45 AM
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