Full circle visit to Hiroshima - part 2 of 2

To continue on with last weekend, on Saturday after visiting Hiroshima Castle, we took two trains way out into the outskirts of Iwakuni about an hour and a half away... 

I mean, this was the train station.  We are talking rural.

Our destination was the "Chicken Shack", a "you HAVE to go eat here" place up on the mountain.   It was a difficult walk, but paved, and not too too long.  We took 100 breaks, and made it up to a beautiful sprawling complex.  Fresh crisp air, smells of grilled food being prepared, not crowded, just wonderful.   Good social distancing measures in place, and we ate outdoors.  We deliberately went at an odd time in the middle of the afternoon, to avoid any crowds. 

 

A lot of the seating was like this - kotatsu - sitting at the low table, with your legs covered by the thick cozy quilts - 

But, that style of sitting is really too difficult for us at this point, so we opted for bench seating along a long communal table. 

The grilled chicken really was so excellent and the "meal set" came with a local soba noodle dish: 

Lot of beautiful spots to explore on the sprawling property: 

Checking the train schedule carefully, we made our way back down the long winding road,  to our little train station to catch a train to Iwakuni and then on back to Hiroshima to sleep. 

Gaming and Sleeping teens across from us on a train;): 

Sunday morning we trained back out to Iwakuni to attend church at this little LDS chapel just steps away from the train station.  The building used to be a car dealership.  It was a very small congregation (English speaking), maybe 20 or so adults and lot of kids.  I got emotional walking in, because the "vibe" reminded me so much of the late 80's when I attended church there.  Back then we met somewhere right on the military base.  But the homey friendly low key feeling was the same as I remembered.   The topic for the day's meeting was HOPE.  David and I both gave talks. He was there by assignment and he asked me to also speak.  I was very nervous but I just loved being there!  

Then immediately following church, we made our way back home to Tokyo - by train, train, bus, airplane, taxi, home.  I am still recovering, lol. 

That is Fuji-san in the distance: 

Tokyo is so sprawling... this is just a small fraction of it - so beautiful at night as our airplane descended: 

We did not put away our suitcases because indeed we have decided to go ahead with our plans to visit grand baby in Texas for Christmas..... leaving on Saturday.  This was a really hard decision, and we went back and forth (me in tears) over the past few weeks.  I'm trying to NOT think about the hotel quarantine when we get back to Japan. 

In the meantime... in our neighborhood we are sure enjoying the "winter illumination" near us in the park whenever we happen to walk through at night: 

It is so beautiful, the combination of the autumn leaves and lights.  It is just so uplifting.  

Thank you for reading.  I hope your holiday plans are just right for you, with minimal stress!  And that your hearts are filled with gladness. 

xo

Cynthia