Japan Day 12: Speeding Off to Take it Slow

To get to Hiroshima direct, without transferring trains with our heaps of luggage, we only had one option for a departure time: 8:20 am. This was less than ideal because Baby had generally been going down for a nap at 8:30 and our AirBnB in Hiroshima didn't allow check-in until 3pm. That meant both naps were going to need to be done on-the-go and we'd end up needing to kill over four hours in Hiroshima with all of our luggage.

By this point, Baby was seeming the tiniest bit better from her full-blown cold and teething combo so instead of being pretty much unbearably cranky, she had a slight fever and seemed too exhausted to cause a fuss. Strapped in her stroller and squished into the aisle beside us, she fell asleep the moment the train began to sway. For the remainder of the trip, she was content to cuddle. Giving us a chance to see the steep green hills whenever we exited one of many tunnels.

Astute Civ 5 players may notice a
world wonder in the background.

Riding a bullet train was another experience we were both excited about before coming to Japan. The train we took from Tokyo to Kyoto hit a maximum of around 320 km/hr. The speed was definitely noticeable in the sway of the train and if you tried to walk anywhere.  But looking out the window it didn't really look like we were going that fast. However, changing a diaper at that speed was certainly challenging!

Feeling positive with how the trip had gone, we easily found a luggage storage in the Hiroshima train station and walked the short distance to the Japanese gardens, Shukkeien. We spent a very relaxing couple of hours wandering the beautiful grounds in the sunshine. Japanese gardens are so intentionally designed that we can't begin to appreciate all that goes in to them but we can say that they are both aesthetically pleasing and complement the natural setting at the same time.

The 25 minute walk from there to our flat took us past Hiroshima castle. We found a quiet corner to rock the stroller and a tired baby to sleep.

We found our apartment, got some Indian takeout, and collapsed into bed at 7:30 pm having already ticked off two top Hiroshima sites before we'd even had a full day here!