Hiroshima Part 2!
That evening, we went to Sushiro, which is the conveyor belt Sushi and it was amazing! It took us a minute to figure it out, but once we did it was so cool! You order it through your phone (or the giant screen next to the table, but we didn't figure that out until the end, oops) and it comes on a little belt right to your table. And you keep eating and ordering until you are sated! TPU-F had a dish-stacking competition with the kids at the table next to us, both giggling as they tried to beat the other. It was very cute, though I they definitely beat won the competition.
The next day, we took a ferry to Miyajima, an island about an hour boat's ride away from Hiroshima. It's a big tourist destination, and is known for a spectacular view of the surrounding area, a float shrine island and... deer? Yes, there are deer all over the island, and they just wander around or follow you hoping for foot scraps. Claysie was very excited to see the floating shrine island (Itsukushima), but as we pulled up (after a stunning boat ride on a beautiful, sunny day), it was just a small little island with a barely visible shrine on it. Rather disappointing... or so we thought until we realized that was, in fact, NOT the shrine. The actual shrine was a little bit of a walk along the water, and was a massive Torii gate in the water that has is not actually connected to the sea floor at all, instead it's so heavy (about 60 metric tons) that it has not moved more than 1 cm since it was constructed in 1875.
Besides the deer, which are pretty cute (I walked ahead a little with TPU-M and we saw them first. I told TPU-M that Claysie would likely burst out with a high-pitched squeal as soon as she saw them and run over to one, and she said TPU-F would not be particularly impressed by them and avoid them. We were both spot-on with our predictions of our corresponding partners), and the stunning ocean walk and Torii shrine, there is what they call a rope-way (basically 2 sets of gondolas) that take you to the top of the mountain for a truly spectacular view.
After coming back down the mountain, we made our way through a slew of stores and restaurants, picking up some chop sticks and eating Okonomiyaki, which Hiroshima is particularly known for! They are crepe-like pancakes with cabbage, egg, meat and other mix-ins that are prepared on a flat grill known as a Teppan. And they are delicious! We also tried Hiroshima coke, which is basically a coke but without the sugar-y taste (just the coke taste) that went very well with the meal!
After that, we took the ferry back and met Keito for dinner, who is a friend of a coworker of mine who lived in Hiroshima for 13 years. My coworker, Melaina, was Keito's mother's English teacher, and she brought her mom, daughter and her friend (and her daughter) as well. They took us to a very tasty (Oishi in Japanese) Italian restaurant. It turns out her friend is half-Japanese, half... Peruvian! And she lived in LA for a long time, so she spoke English, Spanish and Argentine. You can imagine that TPUs were ecstatic. We had a lovely time and they were so nice. The girls were playing Cat's Cradle together (which seems to transcend both geography and time and TPU-M also played when she was little) and were very cute, and we had a great conversation with Keito, her mother and her friend, Stacy. Also, the restaurant had the most delicious Truffle Ravioli I have ever had!
Finally, it was time for bed because the next day we left Hiroshima for Naoshima, the art island! But you'll have to wait for the next post to find out about that!
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