Iwakuni Castle

And off we go to the top...

See the person in the blue jacket? She was the 'gondola lady' who loaded us. Just after we got on and the gondola started moving, she fell over right there on the landing! A guy quickly came out and checked on her. She came around almost immediately and he sent her inside. It was like she had locked her knees and passed out--- just collapsed!! It was so concerning watching it happen and not being able to do a single thing to help!! So thankful she seemed no worse for the wear!

On up we went for some mesmerizing scenery...

first, of where we had eaten our picnic,

then, of the historical park.

And of the beautiful Kintai Bridge and Nishiki River area....

a simply gorgeous day!!

It was kinda nice having our own private photographer with us thanks to Travis!!

At the top....

the perfect place for a kiss pic with the Kintai Bridge!!

A singing clock with markers on the ground around it.

We were only 1,000km (621miles) from Oki!

Yes, PLEASE, don't burn the Fire Chief!!

It's a lovely nature trail walk on to the castle.

The marker for this viney-like tree was all in Japanese, but the tree was fascinating! It was rooted in the side wall of this old well. It was probably almost 50 feet long. They'd had to build crutch-like props to help it be stable as it grew horizontally!

Iwakuni Castle ahead!

We made it to the top and there she was!!

When you enter the castle and make your way to the observation floor on top, you get to peruse a number of historical artifacts in the museum. Travis gave us the suggestion to be Godzillas approaching the Kintai Bridge!!

I could have looked at the views from the top floor all day long!!

I could only imagine what this view would look like in the spring with the cherry blossoms in full bloom or when the Japanese maples were ablaze with fall colors!!

A beautiful Japanese town just has to have beautiful man-hole covers!