Showing Off My Little Town

When the girls were in town we had a busy second day hitting the "sites" of Iwakuni and Miyajima Island. The good thing about the day is that it wasn't super sunny but it was still super ridiculously hot. I think Alison and I were happy to just sit at the top of Iwakuni Castle all day because of the nice breeze and we were finally cooling down, oh yeah it was like 9am. People I am not kidding on how hot it is in Japan, yes I understand the East Coast has had a record hot summer but this weather is indescribable.

At Miyajima: Unfortunately, the tide was out but it was still cool that the girls could walk down and underneath the Tori. It was so ridiculously hot that by the time we walked to the cable car we looked and felt like we ran one of those crazy 100 mile races and we got some extremely odd looks from the Marines coming down from the cable car, they should have sent some paramedics. When we got to the top of the mountain I was extremely happy that the girls did not want to trek to the other side and when I showed Alison where it was she too was so happy.

Kintai Bridge and Iwakuni Castle: I am proud of my little town!

This was the girls reaction to my "asking" them to take the picture. We definitely entertained a little old Japanese lady, she started laughing.

The post that doesn't die............

Oops more pictures of Miyajima Island! When I came down from the top and saw that the tide was out, I also saw TONS of people digging through the sand! I think they were looking for sheels, it was unreal everyone was doing it!





Also, when I got off the ferry I happened to walk into the middle of an organized walk by Want (a Japanese store). They were all over the Island!

Views of my new home!

There is so much to do at Miyajima Island, I absolutely loved it if you couldn't tell. So after the floating tori and the wandering deer you can either take a cable car to the top or hike up to the top for some amazing views and monkeys (seriously, I am not sure if anyone has seen the monkeys!!)

You have to take 2 cable cars to get to the top and these are the views on the way to the top. The small island in the middle is going to be my new home!








Views from the top:

Crazy Map Eating Deer

I took so many pictures at Miyajima Island, before I left for Japan I bought a Digital SLR that is way over my head so I take a lot of pictures to see if I can figure out how to use it and it is a slow process, so I decided to divide the post up.

One of the "big"/odd thing at Miyajima Island is the deer. The deer are everywhere on Miyajama Island and they just sit and hang out but watch out if you have anything in your hand, food and maps included! They are not shy at all!












There are supossedly mokeys at the top of the Island, there are signs and warnings about the monkeys stealing your stuff. These are the only monkeys I saw:



Random Pictures from Miyajima Island:





I just loved these little kids, they were having so much fun!




This is supposed to be a picture of me infront of the floating Tori; however, it is a great example of what happens when you let other people take your picture!

Floating Beauty

Over Memorial Day Weekend I ventured on my own to Miyajima Island. It is so easy to get to Miyajima Island from Iwakuni, about 25 minutes on the train and it such a wonderful place. I definitely will go back there again! I previously mentioned Miyajima Island when we stopped at the rest stop over looking it.

It is popularly known as Miyajima, the Shrine Island, but it also known as Itsukushima. It is in the western part of the Inland Sea of Japan, located in the northwest of Hiroshima Bay. Miyajima Island is known for a few things: the floating tori, "the wild" deer that just walk around, the monkeys, and the wonderful views.

There are two different ferry companies that you can take over to the island.






The famous landmark on Miyajima Island is the floating tori, it is amazing.









By the time I came down from the top of Miyajima (more to come on that) the tide was out and you could walk all the way to the "floating" tori. It was pretty cool to be able to get so close to it since it is pretty surreal the way it "floats" in the water and looks so far away and grand.












More to come on Miyajima........................