広島 Hiroshima pt. II

So what else did we do in Hiroshima... we wandered around some department stores and ate bakery food, because that's what we do apparently. Of course we had some Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki, which in contrast to Osaka-style, is layered instead of mixed together and also commonly features soba. NOW, I love Osaka, and will thus defend it, and its okonomiyaki. My host father insists that they are entirely different and thus do not merit comparison... but I think eating it all mixed together is easier, even if it makes for a less dramatic preparation, since they generally make it on a hot surface at your table.

Our second day was a little cloudy, but we went and checked out Hiroshima castle, which is a reconstruction so Andy wasn't as interested in going in as he was in taking MySpace pics outside (though of course I love the MySpace pics and will never turn down an opportunity).





After that, we checked out the Hiroshima Museum of Art, which had mostly modern European paintings (impressionists and the ilk) but also some Japanese paintings in a European style, which I thought was interesting.

For lunch, we had Italian バイキング baikingu which is not biking, it is in fact viking and it means all-you-can-eat. The people working there assumed we couldn't speak Japanese, which I suppose is the product of being in such a heavily touristy area, but we reassured them that our comprehension level was at least acceptable. I realized a while ago that the first time I came to Japan after having studied Japanese, I thought that everyone was so impressed by the fact that I had some knowledge of the language, but now I know that everyone is just relieved that they don't have to try and speak English.

It was a little tough to come back to school after having such a fun weekend, but I studied all of my vocab on the shinkansen, so I didn't fall behind in my work. I'm really glad I decided to go, even if I didn't get to see Andy's mom who ended up arriving after I went back home to Osaka due to confusion about the international date line. And now Golden Week is only just around the corner, woohoo!