Day 16

Today we spent a full day on Miyajima, enjoying the sights and the lovely weather on the island.  We also had fun watching people be chased by deer, who are encouraged to do so by the many tourists ignoring the "Do Not Feed the Deer" signs.  Walking through the city we got to see the crowds and the shops that line the little streets near the water.  We also found a giant rice ladle that commemorates the invention of the rice ladle in Hiroshima.

We also got to see the 5-tiered pagoda, the Tori gate, and the temple complex in the light of day.  It really is an amazing structure.

After wandering around the town and having lunch, we headed up the mountain.  There's a path up the mountain that leads through a little park.  We hiked up through there (only got lost once) and got to another gondola ropeway to take us even further up the mountain!  It was a pretty long ride, so we were all glad we got a round trip ticket haha.

Once we got out of the ropeway we weren't done walking though!  We weren't even at the top of the mountain.  So we trekked off again and got to see some weirdly sci-fi paths.  We also got to see some exhausted hikers coming back from the path, which was a sign of things to come.  It turned out to be so bad that we gave up in the end and just went back to the gondolas.  We got more than our share of hiking, thanks!  The view was great though, even if we weren't quite at the top.

The rest of our evening was nice and restful, as we strolled around and found dinner at a little bar/cafe.  But to finish off the blog, here's a picture of this unexplained terrifying horse statue!  He scared us really bad last night so we came back to take a picture wooh!