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| A Tom Seat |
We all had good sleeps last night but unfortunately I woke up exhausted, no idea why but I never really got going - back to feeling jet lagged again (that burnt out eye feeling that you get) which wasn't good and it impacted on the day as I think Tom picked up on it. He got told off more and sulked more. Sorry everyone.
Anyway today we went to Iwakuni (south west of Hiroshima) by White Train and the Rail Star (the Rail Star was definitely to Tom's liking as there was a nice padded fat arm rest between the seats that he clambered onto and made into his special seat). Iwakuni is home to the Kintaikyo bridge - a bridge that was built in 1673 (although it got blown away in a typhoon in 1950 and rebuilt in 2003). Originally it was built with no nails but this version wasn't. Even so it was a thing of splendour - 5 steep wooden arches spanning a very clear river in a very picturesque location.
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| Lumpy Bridge |
It took some persuading to get Tom to walk across it free hand but he did manage some. When we got to the other side we thought Tom might like a paddle in the river. Not to be, but he was happy throwing stones in it instead. Matt and I enjoyed a paddle though.
We took many photos of it and then decided to explore the park - which had lots of historical buildings in it and a huge fountain complex. Unfortunately the fountains weren't on (we must be out of season, but it would have been lovely as it was a very hot day again today). However we did find a drinking water fountain which Tom took a shine to, in fact he soaked himself with it meaning he had to have a change of outfit (either that or expose his chicken poxed white tummy to all present - not too pleasant as I'm sure you can imagine)
Once we dragged him away from there we went in search of lunch and ended up buying some snacks: mochi on sticks, chicken karaage on sticks, and a croquette each - an oyster one for me and a yakiniku (beef) one for Matt. Tom ate some of everything, but under duress. The place we bought it from was an ice cream store selling countless number of soft ice cream flavours so we got one each which we shared with Tom - he perked up at this point - funny that!
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| I'm a bridge! |
By now we had almost run out of time (we had a very important appointment to keep today) so we walked back across the bridge and took some more photos (typical now Tom wanted to stay and play in the water!) and got the bus back to Shin Iwakuni station. Here we got what Tom calls the blue train back to Aioi. This is a Kodama meaning it stops at all Shinkansen stations so it was a slower ride back. We had trouble keeping Tom occupied on the way back - meaning he was naughty and got told off a lot. As we pulled up at Aioi (2 hours after setting off) we discovered there was a children's play area in the front coach - poo! Not sure what it consisted of (Matt - it's an exact mock up of the driver's cab, meaning that kids can pretend they're driving the train they're on. What a fantastic idea), but we really wish we knew about it and now want to ride that train again to find out!
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| Blue Train |
As I said earlier, we had a very important appointment to make as we had it on very good authority that a certain Dr Yellow would be passing through Aioi at 16.50 today, so we hung about at the station waiting for it (another little boy of 2, half Japanese and half Australian - here visiting grand parents and also Dr Yellow mad joined us) it was a long wait but he came - he was going flat out but for once Tom wasn't scared, he was very happy and spent the next half hour talking about it. Phew - another thing we can tick off the list - of course now he wants to see a slow or stopped Dr Yellow so we can't rest yet!
After that we went to the park for a spot of football and then headed to our local Ramen restaurant for a couple of bowls and 16 Gyoza (they were on special - 8 for 88 Yen - that's only 65 pence what a bargain). Although I took my camera with the intention of photographing it I forgot - will try to remember next time.
Came back and put a very tired Tom to bed.
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