Yesterday started out with a train ride on the JR Express to Kyoto which took about 1-1/2 hours. Everyone was surprised at how smooth the train was. Once in Kyoto was transferred trains and jumped on the Bullet Train to Hiroshima - which took another 1-1/2 hours. The kids thought it was pretty cool - could hardly tell how fast we were going. They even mastered getting on and off in a matter of seconds as the train conductor doesn't wait to leave the station - they leave precisely when they are supposed to.
Once in Hiroshima, we made our way to Peace Memorial Park. When walking through the park, we saw several monuments. We saw the Peace Bell.
We also saw the Children's Peace Memorial built in remembrance of Sadako, a 12-year-old girl who died 10 years after the Hiroshima bombing of leukemia due to radiation exposure. While sick, she made over a thousand paper cranes hopefully her wish for a cure would come true. After she passed away, school children around the world raised money to build this memorial in her honor and now is a place to leave paper cranes along with your wishes. Our group left 3 chains of cranes that we had made the previous day. We walked past the eternal flame which will stay lit until all nuclear weapons cease to exist.
Just down from there is Memorial Cenotaph which is much like our Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington. VA. We then walked through the museum, watched a couple of videos and saw artifacts of the remains of the destruction. It was a very moving experience. We then headed to Hiroshima's "Ground Zero" which is the A-bomb Dome which was the building closest to the hypocenter of the bomb blast that remained at least partially standing. It was left how it was after the bombing in memory of the casualties.
We also saw the Memorial Tower to the Mobilized Students. This monument was in honor of those students (ages approx 12-14) who were sent to factories and the like to work because the father's and older son's had been drafted and were away at war. Unfortunately many of the young students were killed as they were closest to the bomb blast. All in all it was a very emotional day with lots of questions and students committing to themselves to a more peaceful world.
Today, we started our trek back to Kyoto via Miyajima. This World Heritage Cultural Site is a sacred island housing a Shinto Shrine and the Tori Gate that looks like it is floating on the water. It is also the home to some very aggressive, hungry deer that like to eat paper maps, clothes and backpacks. They certainly afraid of us at all. We took a good look around the shrine and surrounding area and then headed back to our coach for the ride to Kyoto. This coach trip took a little over 5 hours and the kids all wished they were back on the bullet train. To pass the time away on the coach - the front of the coach challenged the back of the coach to a Christmas Song Sing-off. It ended up being pretty silly, but there were some good laughs and complete silliness. In case you are wondering, the front of the bus won!!
We arrived at our final hotel and walked to dinner for an Italian meal that everyone was happy for. After dinner, we came back and everyone is now safely tucked in bed to be fully rested for our full day in Kyoto tomorrow.
We also saw the Children's Peace Memorial built in remembrance of Sadako, a 12-year-old girl who died 10 years after the Hiroshima bombing of leukemia due to radiation exposure. While sick, she made over a thousand paper cranes hopefully her wish for a cure would come true. After she passed away, school children around the world raised money to build this memorial in her honor and now is a place to leave paper cranes along with your wishes. Our group left 3 chains of cranes that we had made the previous day. We walked past the eternal flame which will stay lit until all nuclear weapons cease to exist. 
We also saw the Memorial Tower to the Mobilized Students. This monument was in honor of those students (ages approx 12-14) who were sent to factories and the like to work because the father's and older son's had been drafted and were away at war. Unfortunately many of the young students were killed as they were closest to the bomb blast. All in all it was a very emotional day with lots of questions and students committing to themselves to a more peaceful world. 
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