3 Castles and a Museum

Granted the title would be better if it was "4 Castles" but we're working on it! A few weeks ago we heard that we're heading back to Perth in mid May - I have a work review so they decided to demobilise me a couple of months early! Welcome news as it's been 3.5 years since I lived in Perth and there are about 6 new bubs, MANY friends and family that we miss dearly and need to see.

We wrote a bit of mental "bucket list" of things we need to see and do before we leave... here is the first few adventures...

Odawara Castle:
It's 1hr south of Yokohama by train and well worth the trip. A few of the plum trees were in bloom, we got to dress up like Samurai's and Japanese bee-keepers (I can only assume) and the castle's museum was fantastic.

Nara Park:
We took the Friday night Shinkansen to Osaka. We stayed above the main train station in a "pretty twin" hotel room... hmmm definitions may vary - I'd describe it as a shoe box with Flintstone rock hard beds and pillows! two nights away from our king size, super soft, pillow top layered luxury bed was torture!

The next morning we set off on the train (~45mins) to a town called Nara. They have many shrines within Nara Park, which also has thousands of deer wandering around. They have had their horns pruned and look a bit mangey but are well fed by tourists. The highlight was the giant buddha at Todai-ji Shrine.

Yahoo weather gave us 40% chance of rain... never trust Yahoo weather - it BUCKETED all day!

Watch out - the deer "butt"

Osaka Castle:
In the afternoon we headed to Osaka Castle. Whilst the plum tree and cherry blossom garden was impressive, as was the castle itself, the museum was a bit ordinary... although a lift up the middle of the castle did save us climb 8 flights of stairs! Word of warning - when having photos with cut-outs... check what's on the other side first... and never trust a Kept Ninja!

damn...

Hiroshima:
Saturday night we took the Shinkansen a further 2hrs to Hiroshima. After walking about 10km that day, even a rock hard bed didn't stop me sleeping like a baby! We headed out the next morning to the Hiroshima Peace Museum. It was truly fascinating - I was overwhelmed by some of the stories and moved through it a bit faster when there were gory photos - just awful. There are still around ~200,000 people in Japan who have to carry health records after their exposure in 1945 to the atomic bomb. The museum, memorials and A-bomb dome are very well laid out and the town itself is very clean and attractive.

We then headed over to Hiroshima Castle, which was rebuilt after the atomic bomb. No lift in this one... damn.

It's a 4hr Shinkansen back from Hiroshima to Yokohama... ouch! It's taken a week to recover from our weekend!

More adventures to come!

xoxo
Karate Kate