You must wear traditional attire to have a traditional dinner…

Everyone is ready to begin eating!

The Gora Tensui

A Traditional 

Japanese Hotel in Hakone

Entrance to the room

This is our room!  

We had to take our shoes off & wear flip flops around the hotel.

Thank God, I painted my toes!

Yep…this is where I'm sleeping!

You must dress up for dinner.

Kimonos all the way!  

Check out the camel toe socks in the middle….

You know…you spend a great deal of time trying to avoid the camel, but here ya go….

Complimentary drink & foot bath.

Welcome to Japan

We just finished our champagne, foot bath,

& we're ready for dinner!

Random Images from the Island 

(Miajima)

Students everywhere are in uniforms.  Here are just a few…

Random Street View

Ginko Biloba Tree…I think…I can't remember…

Sake barrels!

Yes, please!

Sitting on the deck.  Ahead of me is the O-torii Gate.

Wait….is it humid???

I wasn't supposed to take a photo, but I couldn't resist.  

View inside a temple.

Wedding Day

Such gorgeous attire!

Allen, Bradley, Steven, & Cyndee as we walk the shrine.

Before entering the shrine, you can purify yourself by washing your hands.

….well….I tried….

Entrance to Shrine

This was taken during high tide, thus the Gate appears to be in the middle of the water.

Around 15:30 is low tide & you can walk the path.

More deer!!!!  

Who doesn't love photos of deer?

Lantern

I can imagine this place is beautiful at night.  

The Deer!  The Deer!

The deer are so friendly that we were able to pet them.  So cute!!!!

Ok, so this was the 1st deer I decided to pet.  Apparently, he was on a mission.  

This was me trying to pet him as he walked.  I was not going to miss this opportunity!

Awe….deer getting rubbed behind the ears.  

Sweet little thing!

Pure love. Deer massage.  

On our Way to Miyajima 

 

We start the day on the train.

(Bradley, Steven, Mark)

Underground walkway…look at the lanterns!  

Taking the ferry!

We made it to the island!  

1st things 1st….

These "toilets" are everywhere!  

I'm not that brave…lets face it, I'm probably not that skilled either.  

 

The O-torii Gate

Hiroshima

This is what remained after the Atomic Bomb.  Most building were made of wood and thus burned.  This, being of stone, remained…well, not much remained.  

Located just a few meters from the hypocenter of the bomb.

This is the only marker to designate the hypocenter.  It was the location of a hospital.  

I didn't get the rest of the area, but if you didn't know about this marker, you would completely miss it.  

Peace Park

Hiroshima

Looking through this arch, you can see the flame, & the dome.

Mark posing in front of the flag.

 The plan is that this flame will only be extinguished
 once there are no more nuclear weapons in the world.

                                             

Statue of a girl with a paper crane.

Paper Cranes made by people in remembrance of the little girl who made over 1000 cranes in hopes of being well again.