Miyajima Island ...

After we had exhausted all of our emotional energy at the Peace Park, we decided to finish the day by visiting one of the three most beautiful places in Japan - Miyajima. I had been once before but Amanda had not so I step up and pretend that I know how to get us where we are trying to go. Sometimes I amaze myself.

We walked out of the Park and ended up right in front of the Hiroshima Baseball Stadium, where the Hiroshima Toyo Carp (広島東洋カープ) play (yes, that's the name of their team). We didn't get tickets to the game, but I have put that down on my list of things to do. I love watching baseball & going to Cubs games back home so I think it would be fun to check out a Japanese style baseball game. If only I could get Ali here & we could go together :)


Next to the stadium was the street car platform. 99.5% of it was in Japanese but I figured since we were going to an island, we should head towards the water, right? We got on what we thought was maybe, possibly the right street car and Amanda started praying while I crossed my fingers.

We rode on the street car FOREVER! For your information ... If you are ever trying to get from the Peace Park to the port for Miyajima, never, I repeat NEVER, take a street car. We honestly rode for what had to have been 34 stops. It took us close to 45 minutes to travel probably less than 15 miles. That's a serious guesstimate. The highlight of the trip was when an older woman (like great grandma older) was getting off of the street car & very politely stopped to tell us (very slowly) to "Have a good day", in perfect English. She was so cute. I still remember what she looked like. :)

But finally, and still smiling, we arrived at the port and bought tickets for the ferry that would take us to Miyajima.

I thought there was a good possibility I was going to freeze to death on the way over.

It was so windy & so cold.

But we were still smiling. :)

There are monkeys in those trees. I experienced them firsthand the last time.

Not a fan.

Thanks to a little zoom action we were able to see the Torii from the ferry.

So I was prepared for what we would see upon exiting the ferry, but Amanda was not. She had no idea that we would step out into a herd of deer who wanted nothing more than to snatch your Coke or eat your map.

I'm not going to lie, they kind of creep me out.

They're just not suppose to come this close.

Amanda was all about it. She was loving the deer,

the deer were loving her.

Not so much my story. This deer clearly did not like me.

But no worries, the feeling was mutual.

We were sure that these things had to be something sweet like a donut or something, not to mention the line was long so it had to be something good, right?

Wishful thinking on our part ... We got to the front of the line & the lady asked us (in Japanese) which one we wanted, as there were 4 options. I couldn't recognize two of the choices, but I very clearly understood 'taco' (octopus) or 'ebi' (shrimp). Wow, so much for something sweet.

We both got shrimp and they were definitely interesting. It tasted like someone sent a handful of shrimp through a compactor (tails & all), cut it with a cookie cutter, and fried it for less than a minute. Kind of mushy, kind of crunchy (thanks to the tails and the other various shrimp parts), and kind of oily. Sounds good right? Come visit, you can try it out for yourself.

We made our way closer to the Itsukushima Shrine where the 'Floating Torii' stands. It's called the Floating Torii because it appears to do just that, float, at high tide. At low tide it is surrounded by mud and sand and can be reached by walking through the muck.

Of course we did.

Since there were still deer roaming everywhere, I decided to try my luck again with befriending one. I was successful. But I think it has something to do with the fact that we had Quaker Oats granola bars.

He just seemed so hungry & he was kind of homely.

We did some shopping all around the island and the caught the ferry back to the mainland, completely exhausted ... but still smiling.

The sun was starting to set and it was really beautiful,

despite the fact that it was (still) freezing.

I have NO idea how I got this many bags.

How am I going to fit them all on my bike? Seriously.

We considered staying at a hostel or finding a capsule, but ultimately decided to head back to Okayama on the JR (local) train. It had been a long day and our beds were sounding really nice. We definitely had to take a taxi to our apartment though, considering the amount of baggage we brought back.

much love,

-tara-

xoxo