Japan Trip Report Friday, August 30, 2024, 6th Report Today the typhoon is suppose to hit Hiroshima where I presently am located. None of the scheduled activities that were suppose to take place today are taking place. Our guide, Kimi managed to squeeze activities for us to do late yesterday in anticipation that they would not take place today. She did get us a wine tasting trip today. I am allergic to grapes and do not drink wine. I could make an exception today. Yesterday we started our day by taking a bullet train to Hiroshima. It was raining. I had bought a cheap rain jacket anticipating that my umbrella would not be enough and wore it for a while yesterday. The humidity is so much here that it is uncomfortable being encased in plastic. Sweaty experience. I still wore it for a while. It was announced over the PA system that the train system would not work after 9PM because of the pending typhoon. This was later changed to 5PM just before we unloaded from the train. Today we packed two days of clothes in our carry on because we will not have access to our large luggage piece until our last stop on this trip in Osaka. My injured bad back did not like carrying this large load. I took more pain pills. The train experience was another smoothly run experience by our competent guide, Kimi.
Our first stop in Osaka was a restaurant specializing in making Okonomiyaki. We were given a frozen cooling ring piece to go around our necks to cool us down for the experience. We then put on plastic hats, aprons and plastic gloves. We were seated around a large frying plate. Latter we stood to do our cooking duties. I felt the heat which was strong. Then a chief cook told us what to do. We pour batter on the plate and put a set of ingredients on top, turning the creation over on cue. It involved a lot of steps and they had vegetarian substitute for me which replaced bacon. We then ate our creations. It really was a lot of fun and the group seemed to thoroughly enjoy it.
We then went to the Shukei-en Garden. It was raining with the pending typhoon arrival and I put on my rain jacket. The garden is very nice. I got lost towards the end and still made it back to the bus on time. I took pictures of a land crab and large fish in a pond. They thought I was going to feed them.
We then went to the Orizuru tower. The tower is named after the folded paper crane (bird) and it is a symbol of peace. We ascended to the rooftop observation deck for a panoramic view of Hiroshima City. I made an origami crane with the supervision of a very nice Japanese lady. We were instructed to drop the crane in a slot to have it float from the tower. I instead kept my crane for Linda. I should not have done it and did slide down from a high floor on a slide to the bottom floor of the tower. My shoes slowed me down going down and it really is not an activity that this 80 year should have done. Bad boy. I had to sign a number of waivers not holding the tower responsible before sliding.
We then went to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and Museum. I took a picture of a building that was mostly destroyed when the U.S.A. dropped the atomic bomb. We were given 2 1/2 hours to look inside the museum. Really, for me it was an elder abuse activity. It was filled with pictures of burnt bodies from the bomb being dropped. At the end of this activity I strongly complained to Kimi regarding the length of time spent there. She told me maybe it could be shortened to 1 and 1/2 hours. Our guide became quite emotional when describing the museum and it was evident that it bothered her immensely. We then went to our new hotel: Rihgaroyal-Hiroshima. The view from my room on the 23 floor is terrific and I shared with Linda on Face Time.
Japan Trip Report Friday, August 30, 2024, 6th Report
ReplyDeleteToday the typhoon is suppose to hit Hiroshima where I presently am located. None of the scheduled activities that were suppose to take place today are taking place. Our guide, Kimi managed to squeeze activities for us to do late yesterday in anticipation that they would not take place today. She did get us a wine tasting trip today. I am allergic to grapes and do not drink wine. I could make an exception today. Yesterday we started our day by taking a bullet train to Hiroshima. It was raining. I had bought a cheap rain jacket anticipating that my umbrella would not be enough and wore it for a while yesterday. The humidity is so much here that it is uncomfortable being encased in plastic. Sweaty experience. I still wore it for a while. It was announced over the PA system that the train system would not work after 9PM because of the pending typhoon. This was later changed to 5PM just before we unloaded from the train. Today we packed two days of clothes in our carry on because we will not have access to our large luggage piece until our last stop on this trip in Osaka. My injured bad back did not like carrying this large load. I took more pain pills. The train experience was another smoothly run experience by our competent guide, Kimi.
Our first stop in Osaka was a restaurant specializing in making Okonomiyaki. We were given a frozen cooling ring piece to go around our necks to cool us down for the experience. We then put on plastic hats, aprons and plastic gloves. We were seated around a large frying plate. Latter we stood to do our cooking duties. I felt the heat which was strong. Then a chief cook told us what to do. We pour batter on the plate and put a set of ingredients on top, turning the creation over on cue. It involved a lot of steps and they had vegetarian substitute for me which replaced bacon. We then ate our creations. It really was a lot of fun and the group seemed to thoroughly enjoy it.
We then went to the Shukei-en Garden. It was raining with the pending typhoon arrival and I put on my rain jacket. The garden is very nice. I got lost towards the end and still made it back to the bus on time. I took pictures of a land crab and large fish in a pond. They thought I was going to feed them.
We then went to the Orizuru tower. The tower is named after the folded paper crane (bird) and it is a symbol of peace. We ascended to the rooftop observation deck for a panoramic view of Hiroshima City. I made an origami crane with the supervision of a very nice Japanese lady. We were instructed to drop the crane in a slot to have it float from the tower. I instead kept my crane for Linda. I should not have done it and did slide down from a high floor on a slide to the bottom floor of the tower. My shoes slowed me down going down and it really is not an activity that this 80 year should have done. Bad boy. I had to sign a number of waivers not holding the tower responsible before sliding.
We then went to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and Museum. I took a picture of a building that was mostly destroyed when the U.S.A. dropped the atomic bomb. We were given 2 1/2 hours to look inside the museum. Really, for me it was an elder abuse activity. It was filled with pictures of burnt bodies from the bomb being dropped. At the end of this activity I strongly complained to Kimi regarding the length of time spent there. She told me maybe it could be shortened to 1 and 1/2 hours. Our guide became quite emotional when describing the museum and it was evident that it bothered her immensely. We then went to our new hotel: Rihgaroyal-Hiroshima. The view from my room on the 23 floor is terrific and I shared with Linda on Face Time.