Hello,
So another day begins and after a very hard (literally!) night on the floor we have not had the best nights sleep haha! When we returned to our traditional ryokan room last night, there on the floor was a mattress, if you can call it that, no thicker than 5cm and a pillow which we think was made of wood. To be fair they did give us a duvet so you can't complain and it was an experience but I don't think we could have done it every night in Japan!
The alarm was set early to enable us to witness the 6:00am prayers in the temple's prayer hall. We arrived to the prayer session just as the monks started to hum and om for the next 50 minutes as we sat cross-legged on the floor watching and listening in awe. Though we didn't understand a word of what was being said it seemed like a lovely way to start the day.
When it has finished we headed straight to breakfast. This was set up for us in our own room, where we had to remove our monk slippers and sit on a square cushion on the floor. In front of us were 2 little tables full of pots and bowls of breakfast that we didn't recognise! We tried our best to try each item but it wasn't to our taste buds and didn't each much. We were both glad at this point that we hadn't opted for the dinner last night!
We then returned to our room to find our mattress on the floor had been removed and took the hint to check out! We packed up and got on the 8:18am bus back to the cable car before taking the train to Osaka.
On arrival at Osaka, Tara enjoyed a coffee as Tom ran back to our previous hotel in search of his beloved flip flops! This may sound ridiculous but he was distraught to find he had left them behind the day before as he has had them since his very first travelling trip back in 2011, buying them in Kenya! What a relief he got them back!!
We then boarded the 12:09am bullet train to Hiroshima sleeping most of the way at 300km/h!
Hiroshima is famous as all of your will already know. This thriving town has a sad history and after checking in at the Sunroute Hotel we opened our bedroom curtains to see the remaining damage left as a long lasting memorial. From our window we could see the A-Bomb Dome standing over the river, one of the only buildings to 'survive' the bomb.
During the afternoon we visited the museum, which was a harrowing experience to say the least. After this we walked through the Peace Memorial Park, finding a children's memorial which we had both seen previously on Newsround. Here, thousands of paper Cranes hang in a range of bright colours folded by children from all over the world. A powerful sight sending out the message of peace to the world. We enjoyed walking around the park and the walked up to the Dome itself to have a closer look.
After a coffee and lunch stop we returned to our hotel via a walk along the beautiful river in blue skies.
We completed our washing, which we were in desperate need of, before freshening up and heading out for dinner in the town.
After a stroll through the central arcade of shops we made it to Roku, a Japanese dining restaurant. Here we enjoyed sitting in our own little pod eating steak, sushi and edamame. We returned to our hotel via the river once again and even had time for a little desert in a beautiful setting by the river.

It is now 9:58am the morning after, Wednesday 5th July, and as the rain pours we are deciding on our plan of action after a great breakfast from the top floor overlooking the city.
It doesn't look to be clearing so it is looking like we will be getting wet whatever we decide to do.
Bye for now,
T&T x