March 17th

Hiroshima

Happy St Patrick’s Day

I so need a sea day, but it was not to be. We were sailing into Hiroshima when we woke up. I thought there were loads of rocks around us, but on closer inspection they turned out to be oyster beds. It was quite a challenge for our big ship to avoid not hitting one.

Having been adventurous and having a Japanese breakfast yesterday, I decided for a more traditional one this morning. I headed for the toaster ready to do battle with toaster wars, but I was the only person using the appliance, and my visit was over and done in a minute or two. Unlike on QV this toaster toasts the bread in just one go, so you are not trying to fight with someone to identify your particular piece of toast so it can go through the appliance for a second or third time in order to be toasted to perfection. Also unlike the QV the butter was not kept close to the toaster so I had to set off in search of it and the Marmite. Both were soon located in the refrigerated section. This is not good as I like my butter soft, and my Marmite spreadable, I will have to obtain both of these in advance next time.

Disembarking was quick and efficient, and we soon on our bus heading towards the ferry to Miyajima Island. As dark and rainy as it had been yesterday, it was bright and sunny today, but with a definite chill in the air. The ferry took about 10 minutes, and soon we were on the island, reputed to be the home of the gods. Sailing across Hiroshima bay we could see the Itsukushima Shrine and the large Torii gate at its entrance. It was beautiful, and looked like something out of a travel magazine.

Once on the island we were greeted by friendly deer, who are said to be messengers of the gods. They clearly do not have discerning taste buds as we were warned not to have any papers in our hands because they would eat them. Sure enough within a few minutes of being on the island several tourists had their maps eaten. Luckily I had put mine in my backpack, where it was safe, but not easy to follow. We had 2 hours to explore the shrine and the island. I could have spent the whole day there, and would suggest that if anyone has the time, that they do spend the whole day on the island. I could have spent it eating the fresh oysters they were selling, but cultural interests prevailed and off we went to see the shrine. It is built over the water, and is an icredibly beautiful place. We were lucky to be able to observe some kind of religious ritual take place which involved the discordant sound of flutes and constant arrival of strange looking foods which were handed from one ornately dressed priest to another, with shrine maidens hovering around in the background.

A cherry blossom was in full bloom in one of the courtyards. The shrine must look magnificent when they are all in bloom.

All too soon it was time to leave the shrine and wend our way back to the ferry through the shopping street. No time to stop for oysters alas. I was particularly intrigued by the concept of deep fried bread encrusted oysters, but didn’t have the opportunity to sample one.

We then took the bus to the Peace Memorial Park. This is of course an essential stop on any visit to Hiroshima, no matter what your feelings are on nuclear warfare. I thought it was going to be very depressing, but it is actually so well done that, although it is very moving, it does not give you a sense of despair and loss, but of hope for the future. Well that’s the way I saw it. We met up with our guide at the appointed place at the appointed time, but one couple was missing. We looked everywhere for them, but they were nowhere to be found. Finally half an hour later our guide said we really needed to go back to the ship, so we started to walk to the bus, and we bumped into the missing couple on the way. They seemed to be totally unaware of the trouble they had caused, and said they had been having a good time sitting in the sun. The guide and the rest of the people on tour were very polite to them, but I’m sure we were all at least a little bit angry that we had had to wait around, and search for them. Our visit to the Peace Memorial Park and Museum was again way too short – I really would suggest at least 2 days in Hiroshima to really experience what it has to offer.

Then it was back to the ship again. You could tell it was St Patrick’s day by the leprachaun in the lobby, and the green cake. The green cake did not look good at all. We headed back to the cabin to get ready for dinner. I took out our tour tickets for Kagoshima, trying to work out what time we need to head out tomorrow, and joy of joys, Kagoshima isn’t until the day after. We have a sea day tomorrow!

It was just the 4 of us at dinner tonight, the South African couple had decided to not go ashore and to have a spa day, and were too tired to join us for dinner. They missed out on an excellent meal. Although there was no corned beef and cabbage, there was roast beef and Yorkshire pudding cooked to perfection so I was happy. One of the dessert options was a red velvet St Patrick’s Day cake, which was indeed red in the middle and green on the outside. It didn’t look very appetizing, but apparently tasted OK.

We decided to skip the show (a comedian) and the St Patrick’s Day dance in the Queens Room so Brian could catch up with some work he needed to do. I was quite glad – I am really enjoying the comfort of our mattress and pillows and am quite happy to have an early night and be rocked to sleep by the waves.