May 18

We left Tokyo at 6am and got on the bullet train to Hiroshima. It took us a little under 5 hours to get here. I got to see the city fade into the country. When we stepped off the platform and into the plaza, I noticed that the station soundtrack was It`s a Small World. It`s really strange to think that we dropped an atomic bomb here...　　

As soon as we could leave our bags at the hotel, we got back on the train to Miyajima. Miyajima is one of the most beautiful places in Japan. It`s a little island and you have to take a ferry to get there. Itsukishima Shrine dates back to 500 and something and looks like the little towns from the old samurai movies. We burned incense and said prayers AND bought very special Hello Kitty stuff. So far, in every special place, there really is a special Sanrio store. I ate fish ball on a stick wrapped in bacon, the city`s famous maple leaf shaped wrapped in bacon, the city`s famous maple leaf shaped donuts filled with cream cheese (which I liked) and another with a gree tea filling (which I didn`t like).　It`s so sad that I can`t post pics for you to see.

We had dinner back in Hiroshima. Cathy planned for us to eat okonomimura tonight because this town is known for theirs. It`s a this town is known for theirs. It`s a layered pancake type of dish. The cook makes a think layer pancake then layers cabbage, beans sprouts, seasonings and lets it cook. We ordered ours with calamari and shrimp. He flips and smashes the layers to make it more like a pancake and ate the end covers the other side with a thin layer of egg. We shared one and had beer to drink. Cathy asked one and had beer to drink. Cathy asked the guys next to us to take a Cathy asked the guys next to us to take a pic and they were so inpressed with her Japanese. We were were so impressed with her Japanese. We were too tired for another round of biru so we left- for dessert...

We found a Mr. Donut on the way back to the street car station. I had hot tea and a strawberry donut. It was ok. Doesn`t compare to the pie wrapped in mochi I had this morning at the train station. OH, this morning, I bought a rice ball that looked really pretty. I took a bite without paying too much attention- Cathy ｓａｉｄ it was vegetables. It was kindof fishy, so I took a closer look, and it had ａｌｌ kinds of little baby fish mixed in with the rice. I thought I was going to be sick, but I realized I was really hungry and that if I ate slow enough, I could probably finish it. I did...

We`re waking up kindof early tomorrow to go check out the Peace Memorial and then will head off to Kyoto.