Hiroshima Peace Park

Today We visited Hiroshima peace park.  When we got there we visited the Sadako statue.  Sadako is a true story about a girl that got sick from radiation from the atomic bomb that the Americans dropped on Hiroshima when she was a baby.  Sadako had an illness called leukemia, which is a form of cancer.  Sadako's good friend told Sadako a story about someone  that got there wish after they folded one thousand cranes.  So sadako folded crane after crane bestowing her wish to get better on each and every crane  until she had folded ONE THOUSAND cranes!  But Sadako did not overcome her battle against leukima and soon died.  

Her classmates decided to honor Sadako by building  statue of her holding a giant crane.  People still make cranes to hang at Sadako's statue.  And I decided to make cranes to hang too!

making cranes to take to Sadako

  

After hanging our cranes, we headed to Hiroshima peace memorial museum.  Inside were displays of clothing, toys and buildings that were destroyed by the bomb.  The museum was really interesting but also very sad.  Today we had a great outing I really learned a lot and it was an amazing experience but I would not recommend the museum for very young children.

Settling in at Hiroshima

Today was our first day in Hiroshima.  After taking the ferry to Miyajima Island, which is where we are going to stay, we stopped at a Okonomiyaki restaurant.  They made the Okonomiyaki right in front of us on a griddle.  At this restaurant they made the Okonomiyaki Hiroshima style which is pancakes with vegetables and other things inside.  It was delicious!
After the yummy snack we walked in the sun looking for our ryokan.  A ryokan is a traditional hotel where you sleep on the ground and the floor is covered with grass mats called tatami mats.
The island is a little town.  There is a large torii in the water near the temple, there is a large pagoda, a long shopping street full of stores and restaurants.  The most surprising thing about the island are the deer.  They roam around the island freely, everywhere.
Finally, we found the ryokan and settled in. We tried on our yukata, which are summer kimonos, before going on a hike. The scenery on the hike was  beautiful.  There were big rocks, green moss and trees all around. It was very peaceful.
It was a very busy day today.  The hike was a really nice refresher.

On my way to the ryokan where I will be staying  I found some friends!

View on the hike.

Torii

The deer likes me!

Okonomiyaki Yumm!