Hiroshima Castle Courtyard

After our cross-city trek, we were greeted with this view...

Guard houses overlooking the moat and the courtyard

A few displays are located inside the guardhouse...

...it also has gorgeous floors!!

One of three trees inside the grounds that survived the bomb.

This "A-bombed tree: Eucalyptus" took quite a 'turn'.... 

quite a few turns, actually, I'd say!!!

We began to follow the path to the castle tower and this couple whom we saw a little later enjoying a lovely picnic!

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park

The site of the A-Bomb drop was redesigned as a peace memorial covering about 4.5 square miles.

Children's Peace Monument

The statue is based on a young girl suffering from the radiation of the atomic bomb. She believed if she folded 1,000 paper cranes she would be healed, but sadly passed away.

The display cases around the monument are filled with chains of origami cranes continuously sent from around the world to be placed at the site in honor of peace.

Many are designed into pictures.

At the Peace Bell, we watched a couple of groups say a prayer for peace, then ring the bell.

I decided to give it a try, too!

We had noticed a number of groups of school children around the memorial, then this group came up to us. They had a list of questions to ask in order to practice their English!

Looking from the Peace Flame over the Pond of Peace towards the Memorial Cenotaph (empty tomb) and Peace Memorial Museum.

Closeup of the flame with the museum in the background

View from the cenotaph to the dome

At the entrance of the underground Hall of Remembrance, is a clock-face frozen at 8:15 (the time the bomb went off) surrounded by rubble from the devastation. Inside the hall, among other displays, is the victims' information area, a list of victims of the blast.

On the screen above, it shows there are 18922 victims listed as of the date of our visit and is updated as necessary. Using the touch screen, a visitor is able to look up names using any of four languages. The screen below scrolls through pictures and names of the victims. The pictures of babies brought extra tears to my eyes..... 

This cross-section of strata at the exit of the hall shows the layer of rubble. 

Our next stop was the Memorial Museum. It was the only site with a paid entry fee, but we decided 50 cents each would not break the bank! Photos were not allowed in the museum, but I probably couldn't have taken a decent photo anyway, seeing as, as Rodney puts it, we cried our way through it!

 Thankfully, the exit hallway was photo friendly because the view down the plaza is stunning!!

From here we began our trek to the Hiroshima Castle Tower...

Hiroshima lunch AND dinner at Nagata-ya!!

After our somber walk beside the dome, before crossing the canal, we took a side trip and headed to this little shopping area and our lunch destination-- Nagata-ya to try some Hiroshima Style Okonomiyaki!

The spatula depicted inside the square shows the tool used to cut and serve the okonomiyaki.

The pictures show noodles served as Original, Deluxe, Special, Oyster, Seafood, and Garlic. But, a few other options are Cheese & Shrimp, Kimchi & Green Onion, Squid Chips & Siso, Green Onion, and Normal.

We opted for the Garlic containing pork, egg, cheese, garlic chips, kimchi, and green onions served atop your choice of soba or udon noodles. (And now I can't remember which ones we got! I just know we got the skinnier noodles.)

Then topped off with mayonnaise and a bit more sauce...... YUM!!!

Matter of fact, we liked it so much, that Rodney and I went back there for dinner!!! It was pretty funny to see the look on the hostess' face when she recognized us from lunch!!

They have grill-side seating and table seating. We were seated at a table with a decent view of the grill.

On one end of the huge grill, they make the thin 'pancakes' which are then placed on top of the grilled noodle piles.

Then, brushed with sauce and sprinkled with seasonings...

...toppings added...

...before being brought to the table and placed on the table grill!

I'm just realizing I evidently didn't get a picture of the spatula/server, but you can just see mine laying on my plate.

If we lived there, one of us may have checked into this--- it was SO good!!

Their bathroom sink was awesome!!

The top of the sink has two spouts, one for soap and one for water, while the bottom of the sink has a built in hand dryer!! Pretty ingenious, I thought-- have the water being blown off the hands go right down the sink instead of all over the floor!!