A Miyajima Christmas

Well, I didn't see any reindeer for Christmas, but I definitely saw lots of regular deer. And by regular I mean dirty, pretty domesticated deer who stick their noses in your pocket and try to eat your map/anything paper within their grasp. After the Castle on Christmas Eve, I finished riding the train and arrived in Hiroshima after over 12 hours on train that day. So on Christmas Day I took it easy, slept in, and took the ferry to Miyajima, a small island near Hiroshima. I've been there before, but the last time I was there, the torii looked like this:


Well, that big torii gate is supposed to be floating, but it really only looks that way around high tide. So I decided I wanted to go back when it was "floating." See below:


I feel much better having gone back and gotten this more traditional Japanese photo. Might sound silly, but something I can mark of my list before leaving Japan.

My Christmas dinner was quite nontraditional. I was fine with that because of all the holiday parties I went to before leaving on my trip. I ate in a really cute little restaurant and had katsudon, a rice bowl with egg, onion and breaded pork cutlet on top. It's one of my favorite Japanese foods and this was one of the best I've had! With some miso soup and a beer on the side, it was a great Christmas dinner, I'd say!




I did some random souvenir shopping because it started raining, but I love just wandering around shops. I always have, but I feel bad about doing it when I'm traveling with other people. A lot of shops do have the same things especially at touristy places like that, but I still enjoy it! I bought maybe too many things, but hey....it was Christmas! A few gifts from "Santa" can't hurt!

After the long train ride the day before, I decided to cheat just a little bit and take the fast train down to Nagasaki. It was my only fast train of the entire trip though and quite necessary so I could get there before midnight! More adventures to come...