HIROSHIMA. Brett, Katie, Ashley and I took a day trip to Hiroshima this past Saturday. We didn't visit the Peace Park this time (I'll do that another day), but we did see some amazing stuff. It's quite a city.... and if you stop to think that it's basically a young city (at least physically, if not historically and culturally) so few years after being scorched to the ground, it's even more remarkable.


This is a beautiful old Catholic church...


...and these are the front doors.


In front of the church was a huge stone block with the inscription: "UNKNOWN CIVILIANS KILLED IN WAR". This is the story of the Memorial Stone.


A beautiful little oasis in the middle of the city, it was first built in 1620...it's a "mini-landscape", that is, a smaller version of what could be miles and miles of land...the little chunks of land are islands...the pond is a great lake. Tons of turtles and fish in there...


Kids posing in front of a massive old castle (sadly, a rebuilt version) with their ma taking the pic.