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We met around 8:30 this morning and headed out soon after. We took the train and then ferry to Miyiajima. Miyiajima is an island very close to Hiroshima. It has the famous floating torii (pictures below) and several Shinto shrines and temples. There were people worshipping in one of the temples and lots of incense burning. The shrines and temples were magnificent. The island has surprisingly tame deer. Do NOT carry food with you if you are near them. They will jump an you like a dog. But they are relatively small and very cute. See my pictures.
Mayiajima also is home to Mt. Misen, a national Japanese treasure and 535 meters above sea level. And we hiked up the entire thing!! Wow. We kept going up and up and up and up. I didn't think it would end. My companions were Jorge and Blake. Jorge Gomez is very energetic and 10 years older than myself. Blake is a little younger than me, but still my contemporary. I had a hard time keeping up with them. But they were sweet and took many breaks for me. I still have my little cold so climbing was more challenging. But we finally made it to the top and the views were amazing. We had a great view of Hiroshima and could only imagine this place 65 years ago...
After that heroic hike to the top we took the cable car down the mountain. Then we found a restaurant and had a Kirin beer and noodles. Yum! See my pictures. It's polite to slurp your noodles so I slurped away! Jim would hate that!
We left Miyiajima the same way we got there via ferry and then took the train back to Iwakuni. Iwakuni's main attraction is the Kintai bridge. When it was built only Samurai were allowed to cross it. It was washed away once and rebuilt. Its five arches are what makes it famous. We walked across the bridge and strolled around the park for a bit and then headed back to the base. It was a very long day. We got back to our rooms at 6PM. I cleaned up and headed to the food court to upload my pictures and video. Unfortunately, this computer doesn't recognize the video from my camcorder so I can't post those for you to see. I'll have to wait until I get back home.
The weird rectangular pictures are from my camcorder. It's nice having a camcorder, but it's more trouble than it's worth because it is so darn difficult to connect to a PC and make DVDs. It should be much easier like a digital camera.
Tomorrow is Monday and starts the work week. The other team members worked today and probably most of the day. Mark told me yesterday when we went to dinner to take a day off. Last night we went downtown and had the best Indian food I've had in a long time! It was delicious. And the menu was completely in English! So tomorrow, we meet at Building 125 (our temp office) at 7:30 AM (or earlier) before we go to our meetings with the Government of Japan. I have a feeling the GOJ will not really pay particular attention to me because I am a female. That's fine. I'd rather take a backseat at the meetings anyway. Let's hope they go well and end early. I might be able to spend some more time site seeing. Perhaps in Hiroshima? We shall see. I'm just so happy that I was able to go with Blake and Jorge to Miyiajima. They work for a different firm that does communications work. Their office is in Marietta and they are both GT grads. It was a good day! We also celebrated the Jackets win! Yay!
Much love,
Katie
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