Journals Day 12

I woke up this morning from the Hiroshima Prince Hotel and collected up my things because we were only going to stay here for the night. We woke up late because we didn't have a wake up call, and I ran to breakfast getting dressed along the way to find it almost over. I ate as fast as I could (or as fast as I normally eat) and ran back upstairs to finish up packing my day bag.

After check-out, I joined the rest of the group in the lobby as we prepared to board a fairy to go to a famous shrine in Hiroshima. The shrine is on a island and the island is home to a group of deer that are unique to the island and extremely tame. The deer would let you walk right up to them and pet them and scratch them. The shrine itself is built on the shore so when high tide comes in, the water comes right up to the floor boards. I took many pictures of the shrine because my homestay family went on vacation to Hiroshima last year and went to this shrine. We all had our shrine books stamped and let loose for half an hour to wander about and shop if we wished or pet the deer. After the thirty minutes, we all boarded a new fairy where we found out bus and prepared for a long drive. The bus ride promised to be long.

The ride would be long as I thought for it took us about 30 minutes by a 380km/hr bullet train so it would take us at least 4 hours to get to Kyoto. We of course made potty stops but we had one more place to visit before we arrived in Kyoto. We arrived at this beautiful castle that many people say looks like a heron in flight. It was beautiful and better yet, not touched by the ravages of war for it was never used in war. After 4 centuries, it was still as beautiful as the day it was built. This was the most elaborate castle so far as it had more floors than it appeared, stunning architecture and many maze-like corridors. The castle was large and grand but because of the maps and gift shops, it seemed less authentic. The wierdest part of all occurred when as I was walking downstairs, I began to think that I could use the signs posted all around to watch your head in my room as good decoration. I quickly left and decided to take lots of pictures and reflect on the castle to get my mind off the signs and maps for a while.

After taking pictures of the castle and discussing how it looked more like a crane in flight than a heron with everyone, We left for Kyoto again and wouldn't stop until we arrived. As we pulled into the city, it began to rain and we had to grab our bags and take them up to our rooms in the middle of a downpour. I took the opportunity to pull on my rain poncho and prepared to walk through the streets of Kyoto during a downpour to our dinner restaurant. As we walked out side, we all saw that the rain had stopped so we put away our rain gear and beat a trail to the restaurant. About halfway there, the skies open back up and let loose their fury on us again. We quickly pulled out our gear and ran along the slippery sidewalks to the restaurant. We entered the restaurant and shown to our tables where we ate a buffet again and dried off. We finished and went back outside and walked though the clear evening night to the hotel where we sleep for the night.