And finally we reached Japan proper and the city of Hiroshima, it's a very beautiful city, all modern and clean and of course mostly rebuilt after the war.

This is our dock and some of the twenty-five buses that were lined up for all of the tours.  These tours were very well organized and things went along very smoothly, unlike some of the other islands. The second picture is a skyline photo showing where the the bomb went off, just behind the tall prominent building in the center.

A typical street scene.  Next a beautiful Japanese garden.

Another street scene with all the bicycles and modern shops.  The famous burned out dome which has been preserved as an historical monument, almost at ground zero.

Then we went to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, fascinating place, lots of people of course, and the sixteen hundred from our ship didn't help.

Below is a before and after model of Hiroshima proper.

Some of the museum crowds, and a larger model showing the bomb at the time of detonation.

That about covers the trip. From Hiroshima we went to Osaka.  We got there the next morning and being  independent passengers, we were able to get off the ship first.  We then caught a local bus to the airport and home.

And finally, I would like you all to meet our dinning companions.  Sandra and George from Phoenix, and Betty and Warren from Paso Robles.  These were the folks that made the trip a most enjoyable experience.  You can't believe how I looked forward to seeing them each evening and I thank them very much for being such wonderful folks.

That's it guys for this trip, the next one comes in January, write soon.           jfeenstra@earthlink.net