Spent a rainy first day in Hiroshima and visited the Peace Memorial Park and Museum. Think the weather suited it well as was pretty oppressive reading. Such a good idea that people from all over the world have a chance to read about what happened from the Japanese point of view. So many lives lost in such an awful way in the name of peace. To lift our spirits went for some Hiroshima Okonomiyaki (noodle based pancake treat) at Sarashina's as recommended by the LP - very tasty and the chef pointed at Rob at one point and said 'Kevin Costner' which nearly made me choke on my pancake.

Very different second day... went across to Miyajima Island (Itsuku-shima) on a gorgeous sunny day. As you can probably see from the pics - some very tame naughty deer, some monkeys, some temples and the floating torii (you might think there was more than one judging by the number of pictures I took). Took the cable car up to top of Mount Misen for amazing views of the Japanese inland sea.

Stayed in our best value for money hotel so far.. Hotel Active! (the exclamation mark is \in the name). All you can eat splendid breakfast plus en suite and comfy room for ￥７５００.　Off to Kyoto now for 3 whole days of Geisha spotting. Lucky Rob....