Spring Break: Day 7
Day 7 was Annoying Travel Day right from the start. See, our Termite Dog, Nemu, got to Daddy’s yen before he came up, so quite a bit of the cash had to be placed in a Ziploc bag so we wouldn’t lose any of the tiny pieces. Daddy and I started off the day early (for us XD) and finally went to the bank to see about exchanging the damaged cash. But unfortunately for Daddy, only the Bank of Japan (Osaka branch in Yodoyabashi) can exchange chewed upon cash for shiny new bills. So I went on my own after Daddy and Nana went home, and instead of the 2 weeks the bank guy warned us about, I had 8 new bills in half an hour.
Anyway, that bit of travel was useless, so we went to the station to buy Shinkansen tickets to Hiroshima. But the 10:59 train that we wanted was all full up, so we had to wait an hour. That got us into Hiroshima at about 1:30, then 45 minutes more of travel to Miyajima, the island with the huge red torii in the ocean.
Miyajima is also famous for momiji manjuu, a yummilicious sponge cake thing in the shape of a maple leaf, filled with chocolate, or cream, or anko, or matcha flavouring…
…Rice paddles…
…Deer…*shudder*…
…And there’s even an aquarium, which we didn’t have time to see
The tide was going out when we got there, so Daddy and I were able to go almost to the base of the torii and take photos
Nana waited up on dry land because there were only stairs going down, plus we were afraid of what would happen with her cane on the mushy sand. Apparently other people didn’t have fears of sinking, like this couple who rolled the baby stroller right through the puddles
Or the many women in stiletto heels. I’m surprised more women didn’t get stuck like this lady
There were stepping stones in a line about half-way between the torii and the temple, leading from one side of the U shape to the other. Or, they might have, if there were more than 10 of them.
Lindsey and family were staying on Miyajima for the night, so we were hoping to run into each other while we were there. Unfortunately, Lindsey’s group was climbing a mountain, and we had to leave early to catch the 5:45 Shinkansen we reserved tickets for that morning. Lindsey actually managed to catch us up just as we were leaving, so I got to see her for about 5 minutes XD
The tide had really gone out by the time we were leaving, so people were able to go right up to the torii and touch it
We got one of the other tourists to take this picture of me and my Daddy on the ferry
And we got to the train station just in time to watch the train we needed pull away. This was about the time I started to think that maybe traveling with my Nana for a week straight is a bad idea, at least before she gets a new body. There were only stairs going to the platform we needed, and her knees are not happy with stairs. So it really sucked knowing that if we had been able to run up those stairs, we would have made that train. Then we wouldn’t have gotten into Hiroshima city just as our Shinkansen was leaving, making us wait 2 hours in the station until the next open train.
Then, when we finally got back to Shin-Osaka, we got down to the platform just in time to see the train to Osaka pull away. Which was actually okay because the next train came soon and we didn’t have any time commitments left. And the train we missed broke down. Or something.
Our train got stopped just outside of Osaka because the train in front stopped working. I didn’t catch what the problem was, but we were trapped for about maybe 20 minutes? Thank goodness we only had to go one stop, because when we got off the train I checked the electronic board that says when the next trains are arriving. All of them were at least half an hour late, and one was even delayed 75 minutes! Craziness.
Anyway, that bit of travel was useless, so we went to the station to buy Shinkansen tickets to Hiroshima. But the 10:59 train that we wanted was all full up, so we had to wait an hour. That got us into Hiroshima at about 1:30, then 45 minutes more of travel to Miyajima, the island with the huge red torii in the ocean.
Miyajima is also famous for momiji manjuu, a yummilicious sponge cake thing in the shape of a maple leaf, filled with chocolate, or cream, or anko, or matcha flavouring…
…Rice paddles…
…Deer…*shudder*…
…And there’s even an aquarium, which we didn’t have time to see
The tide was going out when we got there, so Daddy and I were able to go almost to the base of the torii and take photos
Nana waited up on dry land because there were only stairs going down, plus we were afraid of what would happen with her cane on the mushy sand. Apparently other people didn’t have fears of sinking, like this couple who rolled the baby stroller right through the puddles
Or the many women in stiletto heels. I’m surprised more women didn’t get stuck like this lady
There were stepping stones in a line about half-way between the torii and the temple, leading from one side of the U shape to the other. Or, they might have, if there were more than 10 of them.
Lindsey and family were staying on Miyajima for the night, so we were hoping to run into each other while we were there. Unfortunately, Lindsey’s group was climbing a mountain, and we had to leave early to catch the 5:45 Shinkansen we reserved tickets for that morning. Lindsey actually managed to catch us up just as we were leaving, so I got to see her for about 5 minutes XD
The tide had really gone out by the time we were leaving, so people were able to go right up to the torii and touch it
We got one of the other tourists to take this picture of me and my Daddy on the ferry
And we got to the train station just in time to watch the train we needed pull away. This was about the time I started to think that maybe traveling with my Nana for a week straight is a bad idea, at least before she gets a new body. There were only stairs going to the platform we needed, and her knees are not happy with stairs. So it really sucked knowing that if we had been able to run up those stairs, we would have made that train. Then we wouldn’t have gotten into Hiroshima city just as our Shinkansen was leaving, making us wait 2 hours in the station until the next open train.
Then, when we finally got back to Shin-Osaka, we got down to the platform just in time to see the train to Osaka pull away. Which was actually okay because the next train came soon and we didn’t have any time commitments left. And the train we missed broke down. Or something.
Our train got stopped just outside of Osaka because the train in front stopped working. I didn’t catch what the problem was, but we were trapped for about maybe 20 minutes? Thank goodness we only had to go one stop, because when we got off the train I checked the electronic board that says when the next trains are arriving. All of them were at least half an hour late, and one was even delayed 75 minutes! Craziness.