Wednesday, December 2, 2020

Miyajima

We went on a road trip!  We we were originally going to go last spring but 2020 happened and the base said no way are you allowed to travel and things got put on hold.  Even for the trip now we had to file and get permission.  

Our first stop was Miyajima.  We drove about 12 hours and slept in Hiroshima and woke up early the next morning to catch a ferry to the island Miyajima.  
They have a super famous floating tori gate.  Unfortunately we couldn't see it at all because it was covered in scaffolding.  I knew they were working on it, but I thought we would see be able to see it.  I had pictured in my mind one or two guys painting it, but that was not the case.  It was really disappointing.
To make up for it I bought a mini version of the tori gate at a gift shop and placed it on the sand to take a fake picture of it.  The kids thought it was a great idea.
Once we got over that disappointment we had a great time.
Miyajima is a really cute island.  They had several really nice temples and lots of shops and things for tourists to see.
I had fun taking tons of pictures but I narrowed it down to only like 20 for this post so... you might want to hunker down.




This next one was so much fun.  A man in a gift shop had this giant poster on his wall and floor.  He then showed the kids exactly how to stand and where I should take the picture to make it look like they were riding a horse.  It was fun to get to talk to the locals a little bit.  I think they are experiencing a lot less crowds than they are used to with both covid 19 and the main attraction being covered up. 

The place was swarming with deer.
There was one that scared Calista pretty bad.  She came up from behind to pet it and he jumped around and tried to nip at her.  
This was our fist time seeing deer that we so friendly.  I'm glad we came here before we went to Nara.
After exploring the main shrine a nice garden and the town a little bit we headed over to the main tourist shopping street.  Tucker loves soy sauce.
These rice paddles are a big deal here.
She was writing messages or prayers on them, like hope and strength.  
We tried some of the food they are known for.
I don't think anyone really liked the oysters.
And we finished it out with a large Japanese pagoda.  One of many we saw on our vacation.

I originally went to Miyajima for the floating tori gate alone but after getting over the initial disappointment I really enjoyed our time there.  I'm definitely glad we went even with it covered in scaffolding. 




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