Golden Week VII - Miyajima

Last day, and about 5 hours or so from home, so if I wanted to do any sightseeing, I needed to get moving early. Thanks to Bass(beer, not former Hanshin Tiger Randy), I got a good night's sleep and bounced out of bed around 6 to check out and head to Miyajima. But like I said, I didn't ride the streetcars enough to really figure them out. This is what I look like at after 4 days of traveling and taking the wrong streetcar with all my luggage on my back at 7AM.After I got that all sorted out and shoved my big backpack in a coin locker, I hopped on the train that would take me to the ferry that goes to the island of Miyajima, home to the famous "floating" torii gate. Not really floating, but I'm not going to complain, at high tide it still looks like it's floating. The weather didn't really cooperate with me that day, and it was really foggy in the morning.

All the shrine buildings are built the same way, so that when the tides in, the whole place seems to be floating. When the tide goes out, though, they aren't fooling anyone. People will walk out to the torii for pictures.

Not being one to learn from my mistakes, I saw a path that went towards the top of the mountain and started up. Lucky for me, the path actually went to the ski-lift that takes you up the mountain. Down by the shrine, they have the same kind of tame deer that there are in Nara. Up on the mountain, they have monkeys. You can feed the deer, but they don't seem to want you to feed the monkeys.

Apparently, they can take care of themselves.

And also signs, it seems.

After watching the monkeys for a while, I noticed that there was another peak that looked higher. I paid $20 for a ride to the top, dammit, I want to go to the top! I found the path and started up, or actually, over to the real summit. I got about 10 minutes down the path and saw a sign that said it was another 1.4 km, but I wasn't going to stop. Besides, it had been downhill so far. I hiked another 40 minutes or so, uphill, through the rocks, before I finally got to the top. The fog was clearing by then, and it was worth the trip.By now it was getting late, and I hadn't eaten lunch, and I still had about 5 hours worth of trains ahead of me. Time to wrap it up. I caught the ferry and train back the Hiroshima, ate about as fast as possible at McDonald's, and got back on the train for Tokyo. The whole trip, I played the odds and bought the non-reserved seats, and it had paid off so far. This time, though, it didn't. I literally was shoved onto the shinkansen for Tokyo. My backpack and I had a nice little spot, wedged into the doorway. I stood there, worrying what to do if that was the door that opened at the next stop. It wasn't for the first 2 stops, where people seemed to just look in and realize there was nowhere to go, but finally it was my turn. My only option was to get off the train to let people out and make myself the first in line to get on. I moved to a more central standing location, but I still had to stand for the 2 hours or so from Hiroshima to Kyoto. I finally got home around 9 and went straight to bed. I had to be back at work in the morning.

It was all a little too busy, but it was fun. I wish I could find time to go back to all those places and actually spend some time there, but I don't think it's in my schedule.