  from: brett mills sent: tuesday, april 27, 2004 1:20 am subject: my adventures part 11 Well this weekend has been long, tiring, amazing, sad and in all a great weekend.
It started on Saturday: woke up at around 11am, breaky, got ready for work and then off I went. It was an OK day, just the same realy with McDonalds for lunch etc. After work I got changed and off I went to Nagoya. Arrived around 10pm ish, picked up some beer for the trip, of course cracked one open before the bus even arrived and then at 11pm I caught the bus (which would be the longest bus ride ever) to Hiroshima.
About 8 hours of trying to sleep in a slightly reclined seat. Not Happy Jan, OH well it was cheaper than taking the bullet train although about 7 hours longer. Anyway arrived in Hiroshima at around 7am, found a little cafe and had the wake up coffee, well I didn't actually get any sleep, but I needed something the perk me up.
We were to spend the next 14 hours walking around. After breaky we, (friends from orientation, Allisyn, Kylie and Brad) caught the tram to the a Ferry terminal then hoped on the 10 minute ferry to an island called Miyajima. This island was amazing, it would be so nice to live there. There was deer walking around freely, many lanterns along the water front, a shrine, pagodas and of course the thing that everyone comes here for, the floating (well its not really floating) Torii (Shinto Gate and the symbol of Shintoism) This Torii is in the middle of the water and is definately a must see if any of you ever come to Japan.
urlLink The Torii After looking around the island and taking many photos, we headed back to Hiroshima. We visited the A Bomb dome, which was one of the only buildings left standing after the first ever atomic bomb was dropped in August 1945.
It is now for ever preserved in the Peace Memorial park. This park is so tranquil, with many monuments to Visit and reflect what tragedy these people went through at the time. There are many people looking around, some sitting on the banks of the river playing guitars, singing, or just relaxing. The weather was perfect. There is also an amazing museum that tells you all about the bomb and surprisingly it tells you both sides of the story about the war, not just that America dropped it but also about Japan's roll in the war, with Pearl harbor etc.
The museum is very descriptive with many photos of what people looked like (not a happy site) also there is a watch that stopped at the exact time, peoples reflections that actually lived through it, and also parts of bodies. Needless to say there weren't many dry eyes in the place. Again definately a place to visit in Japan.
urlLink A bomb dome After looking around the museum and monuments in the park, (probably around 5pm) we decided to grab some beer and head back to Miyajima to check out the sun set. That was amazing, I managed to get a photo with the sun setting in the middle of the torii. Also at this time, the water was at low tide, so I walked out to the torii and had a close look. BEAUTIFUL. urlLink The Torii at sunset This was the end to a perfect day. We headed back to Hiroshima and had dinner. We had okinimiaki. I don't know how to explain it, I guess it is a flour, egg, cheese, prawn omelet type of thing but with less egg, so its not really an omelet. It was nice and is pretty much a standard thing to eat here. urlLink Okinimiaki We then headed back to the bus, around 10pm and headed back to Nagoya.
Another 8 hours, this time I managed to sleep, although it was uncomfortable. Arrived in Nagoya at about 6.30am, hoped on the train back to Gifu and climbed into bed. Well that is about the extent of my weekend. A very long and exciting day. I'm off to work tomorrow as usual. I don't have any other big trips planned for a while, I think I need a rest. Again, I hope you all are great, sorry for such a long email. Chat soon Brett 
