We arrived in Hiroshima on a Friday evening, and I had just enough energy to ride the elevator and crash into bed; not even enough energy to find supper! We awoke to rain outside our 6th floor view of the Naka Ward and leaned into the opportunity for a lazy morning to catch up on sleep, photo organization, and journaling. It’s tough to keep up with all the memory-making of an international trip!
Hungry bellies drew us into the rain at lunchtime, and we wandered a few blocks to a vegan restaurant that had opened just weeks before. Nancy will agree: JoGeSaYu was highlight enough to visit Hiroshima another time. We were welcomed warmly and enjoyed a 4-course meal that was as entertaining as it was delicious — bubbly drinks, crispy dashi cashews, potato salad served with a tiny shovel, and smoke-infused rice & vegetable bowls had us so delighted, we planned a return the next day.
Bellies full, we wandered down Peace Boulevard to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. What a deeply visceral experience: gutting photographs and haunting stories from survivors of the atomic bomb detonation over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.
The gentle rain engendered a walking reverie on the memorial grounds, past the peace flame and on to the A-bomb dome: a stark visual reminder of the first use of nuclear arms in warfare.
Never again.
On Sunday morning we were greeted from our transit ferry by the iconic “floating gate” off of Miyajima Island. It took about 6 minutes of walking in the forest at the base of Mt. Misen for me to be enamored by the rocks, streams, waterfalls, and trees. 😍 We took the ropeway/cable car to the top of the mountain for three delightful hours of rock-hopping, vista-viewing, and Jess-drooling as we hiked down the Daishoin trail. Words can’t capture how enraptured I was, so I’ll try pictures instead.
After dinner at JoGeSaYu, we packed our backpacks for our next adventure: the Shinanami Kaido cycling path.
Conversations on El Camino 