After the memorial we were headed to Myajima island, famous for the huge Tori gate that appears to be floating in the water.
We had noticed that the cable car we had gotten from the station to the memorial continued on to Myajima so we thought we would hop on that instead of going back to the station. Again that was a bad decision, another incredibly slow trip throughout the suburbs of Hiroshima. If we had headed back to the station we could have gotten a JR train that would take us to the same destination in quarter the time.
We eventually got to the end of the line, and headed to the ferry wharf. We had to pay for the cable car, but the ferry is all part of the JR network and included in our passes.
True to forecast the weather started to clear and it was beautiful to see the island half shrouded in cloud.
Untitled by
batty2750, on Flickr
Untitled by
batty2750, on Flickr
There is plenty to do on this island and it would have been nice to stay overnight, but we had to get back, so we wandered through the shopping area to the itsukushima shrine. Unfortunately the tide was out so the tori gate was not floating, but it was very impressive anyway.
Untitled by
batty2750, on Flickr
Untitled by
batty2750, on Flickr
Untitled by
batty2750, on Flickr
We then headed back to the ferry and took the train this time back to Hiroshima station. We had booked seats on the Hikari Shinkansen back to kyoto, but found ourselves at the station an hour earlier than anticipated - we decided to jump in an unreserved car of an earlier train.
I should point out, there a three classes of Shinkansen on this route, the fastest and most frequent service is the Nozomi, it goes point to point without stops but is not included on a JR pass - it can be a very costly mistake if you get on this inadvertently. The next is Hikari which makes a few stops along the way and is the one we were booked on, and then the kodama, which is the one we jumped on.
The Kodama is the "all stations" and while it built up speed between stations, each station it stopped at it would wait at least 5 to 10 minutes before it could leave on it's schedule. We found this very frustrating, and wished we had just waited the hour for the faster train!
Once we were back in Kyoto it was about eight o'clock DH thought we would have more luck finding somewhere to eat around the station rather than near our house. I could sense that this would turn into more aimless wandering and no one agreeing where to eat, so I said that I would go back to the house. DS came with me, while DH, DD and DS went off in search of food.
DS and I made our way back to the house without issue and fixed ourselves something to eat in our kitchen.
The others found themselves a nice meal by all accounts, but when it came time to getting home none of them had a map nor had been paying any attention over the last three days about which buses they could use!,
This became quite an issue, they could not find anyone to ask or find a map. The bus stops all have names, much like railway station, so it is pretty easy to navigate. Ours was also the end of the loop at Ginkakuji, so the buses would have this as their destination, there were at least three buses you could catch from Kyoto station that all come in regular intervals.
So they gave up on the buses and headed to the taxi rank, DH said he got in three taxis and asked them if they spoke English or could they go to the silver pavillion - he didn't know the Japanese name of Ginkakuji - each time he got a negative - he said the last guy responded when he asked if he spoke English with "no I don't"
I don't like to jump to conclusions and say this was discrimination, but it did seem very odd. It was getting late, but DH had two children with him. Just typing this I am thinking, were they worried, scared etc, but apparently it was all a barrel of laughs. They are all much more carefree than I am! DS was getting a little concerned, he had a smart phone and was trying to find a wifi connection as we had left the SIM cards at home, DD had a phone with flat battery and DH had nothing !
Meanwhile, I was blissfully unaware - but was thinking they are taking their time.
Eventually they were able to find a bus map and found their way home!