City of peace

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Geo: 34.39, 132.44 - Hiroshima

After a beautiful, sunny and comparitively relaxed day the rain has returned which significantly limits our sightseeing options. There are worse ways to spend a rainy afternoon however. Our hotel is very close to everything we need and we have a very nice view over the river and the parklands. Yet another mind blowing view. Ground zero is only metres away.

We are now based in Hiroshima and there is no subway due to the city being located on a river delta meaning that building underground tunnels is not really an option. So public transport is all above ground. In the inner city that means getting around by tram or bus which means getting wet when its raining. No subterranean shopping zones here like we have found in other large cities.

But that's not the only difference. Hiroshima looks different to other cities we have visited so far.
I think it looks like a city rebuilt. Or perhaps thats just my imagination. There are very few narrow streets and alleyways. Most of the city that we have seen so far is wide boulevards and modern buildings. We caught a taxi from the railway station and our driver gave us a bit of a tour. He seemed geniune enough and very enthusiatic about our pending itinerary. But not sure if we could have taken a more direct route. Not that we were too concerned. What else do you do on a rainy day in a foreign city? It was good to get a bit of an orientationon the way to the hotel.

We decided to perservere with the rain and make our way to the Peace Memorial which is a large park containing a Musuem and a Cenotaph among other things. Most notable is the Memorial to the victims and the A dome which is one of the few buildings left standing after the city was all but totally destroyed.

It seemed like there were about a thousand high school students there. And alot of them wanted to practice their English by speaking to foreigners. We seemed to be some of the few foreigners out and about in the rain so alot of the students wanted to talk to us. It appeared that the students were primarily at the park to learn about peace. I guess if there is anyone that should be learning about peace it should be the next generation so I am seeing that as a good thing.

From my limited time here it seems that there are two things that are important. Peace and baseball. I guess there could be far worse obsessions!

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