This morning one of the choices on the hotel breakfast menu was an “American breakfast”. When it arrived it didn’t look terribly familiar but it was good.

We decided to take the metro to Osaka Castle today. Along the walk to the metro station we passed this house completely covered with vines.

At Osaka Castle we stood in a long line to get tickets then went through the museum up to the 8th floor to see the view.

Next door to Osaka Castle is a building that is the former military headquarters of the 4th division of the Imperial Japanese Army. Now it’s a mall. We went in to find some cool resreshments and ended up with a variety of green tea things! We didn’t intend to order three but we managed to consume them all!

We took a city bus back to our hotel and had dinner at a nearby burger place. It was a good day.

This morning we checked out of our hotel in Hiroshima. We took a tram to the train station and then took the bullet train from Hiroshima to Osaka. The train ride took us about an hour and a half. In Osaka it took us a while to find the ride sharing pick up spot. But when we finally did we ordered an Uber. It quickly delivered us to our hotel.

After resting a bit we went out exploring. Because it was Sunday afternoon there weren’t too many people out and about..

We picked out a beef restaurant near our hotel for dinner and made a reservation. According to Google the restaurant is very near the hotel. Since we couldn’t read any of the signs we couldn’t find the restaurant. Eventually we went back to the hotel. One of the guys from the front desk walked us to the restaurant. Our dinner was fantastic. I think the beef was the best I have ever had.

This morning we walked to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. The park is where the atomic bomb was dropped on August 6, 1945. We visited the memorials then went through the museum.

Then we walked to nearby Hiroshima Castle. The original building was a traditional flatland fortress built in 1589. The area around the castle was a major military command center during the war.

At least partly because it is Saturday there were lots of activities going on in the park surrounding the castle.

Around 5pm we went out to scope out possible dinner and music places for tonight. Right before we got to the major intersection near our hotel a bus hit a 5 car Hiroshima electric railway tram causing it to derail. As we got to the intersection the two drivers were talking. While we watched, about 10 police cars converged on the intersection. They shut down the intersection and began directing traffic. The whole situation was very impressive!

We ended having a wonderful dinner at a restaurant near the jazz club we were scoping out. The waitress was wonderful and explained everything to us. We had sake, miso, sashimi, and beef

Earlier when we were scoping out jazz places, we found the Shitamoto Piano Bar on the sixth floor of a building, a block down the street from where we ate. But, it didn’t open until 7. So, when we went back after dinner we didn’t know what to expect. As we entered the small bar the man who was there tried to explain to us there was no show tonight. But it seemed like he was trying to tell us something else. So we sat down. We were the only ones there. We finally understand that we needed to pick three songs from his music list and he would play them for us. There would be a music charge of about $30. We had a couple of drinks, sat back and enjoyed our very own private jazz concert. It was absolutely magical!

This morning we had breakfast at the hotel. Duke had a sashimi rice bowl and I had avocado toast. Breakfasts in Asia are very different from breakfasts at home. And, I feel least adventurous at breakfast time. Both our breakfasts were very good

Then about noon we checked out, walked to the train station, and took the Bullet Train to Hiroshima. The bullet train is so cool. I just love it. It goes 200 mph. The distance from Fukuoka to Hiroshima is 154 miles. We made three stops and the ride took us just over an hour.

In Hiroshima we took a street car to our hotel, the Mercure Tokyu Stay, Hiroshima.

Tonight for dinner we went to a restaurant recommended by the people at the front desk. They serve a Hiroshima specialty, okonomikaki. Our food was cooked in front of us.

I hope I never take beautiful weather, like we had today, for granted again. After the last three weeks of hellish hot weather it was wonderful to have a perfect day. The temperature was in the mid seventies, the humidity was about 65%, and there was a light breeze. The nice weather made it really fun to go out exploring. We walked from our hotel to the nearby train station.

We took the subway to Ohori Park. Then we walked around the lake and visited the Japanese Garden. Before getting on the subway to go back to the hotel we stopped at a Starbucks by the lake to have cold drinks.

We had planned to eat dinner at the hotel steak house but we didn’t make a reservation and they were full. With help from the front desk staff we found another restaurant to try, called Yakniku Hayato. It was about a three quarters of a mile walk to get there. What an adventure! No one spoke English and we weren’t sure what we were eating or what we were ordering or how to cook it. But we certainly were full when we left.