Happy accidents in Hiroshima Day 1

I confess I felt some trepidation coming to Hiroshima given what happened here to end WWII. I don't quite know what I expected. What I found is my kind of city.

I arrived from Kyoto to an incredible place called Hotel Active. At the station tourist information center they assured me it was an easy walk from the station to the hotel. Either they don't get I'm an old lady or they didn't grasp the heaviness of my bag, but even 15 minutes was a bit of a stretch. I made it intact however only to find I couldn't check in until 3 pm. OK, I say to myself...it's raining...so where do I go? Why straight out to the broad boulevard, turn right, walk forever, turn right again, and run right into the Museum. What better place to while away some pleasant dry time. Well, it was more than pleasant - it was a great find. There was the Western art section which I thought I would have no interest in. To my surprise, there were Picasso paintings I'd seen only in books, Chagall, Munch, and Modigliani sculpture. The museum is laid out so you don't get what I call gallery fatigue. You can easily enjoy each painting in the more intimate setting.

 Every now and then you will see a yellow tag on a tree or yellow sign. This indicates a tree that survived the bomb blast on August 8, 1945.

 The figure on the red poster is what drew me to the museum.

 The samurai in this poster was the guide throughout the castle.

The real treat, however, was the special exhibit. A Japanese sculptor's (wood) work was being celebrated. What attracted me to the exhibition was a Noh doll (that's what I thought it was). The fabrics in the advertisement photo looked so luxurious and I expected to see more of those. Turns out, the fabrics I thought I saw were really painted wood. The carving was so intricate, every fold and drape so perfect, even when you knew it was a carving, it was still hard to tell. His carvings were mostly people - monks, fisher folk, herders, and then the Noh figures. Of course they don't allow photography of exhibits, and frankly the photos don't really do justice to the work anyway, but it would give you an idea. There is a photo of the exhibit ad however.

After the museum I pressed on (in the rain) to Hiroshima Castle. Most of the so-called castles in Japan are really weak on defense. They are basically just very large, elaborate houses for the the richest guy in the neighborhood. Hiroshima was actually built with an eye to repelling invaders, with elaborate plans to release moat water on invaders, small windows for using weapons without getting killed in return, and multiple other tricks. Anyway, the castle, which my guidebook wrote off as unimpressive, was quite impressive indeed. The exhibits inside included katana, armour, artwork, some of the surviving record books of the era, and festival decorations. The view from the top was breathtaking. It overlooked the moat and surrounding gardens, a nearby temple, and then as the quintessential Japanese backdrop, modern highrises. It's the mix that makes it so fascinating.

By now I was getting drenched and tired and very hungry, so I headed back to the hotel (about a 45 minute walk away). You'd think that would be it for rain for the day. Oh no. I had to find a grocery store for dinner and of course that involved more walking. It was worth the walk, however, as this particular grocery was very upscale and full of tasty treats. It was extremely hard to walk past the pastry shelves and not scoop up the strawberry cream cake.

End of day one.