Hiroshima, day 1 (before the typhoon)

After leaving the lovely Miyajima Island, we headed back to Hiroshima for the night. When we came to Japan in 2013, Hiroshima was our first stop. Since it was my first city in this unfamiliar country, where I can not read nor speak the language, one might expect associations with being uncomfortable, but right from the start, Hiroshima felt right. We found our way around, discovering bars and restaurants and clubs and enjoyed every moment of our time. This why we decided to return.

Our hotel room was enormous, with a whole separate sitting area.

One thing I really wanted in Hiroshima was their style okonomiyaki. It is one of my favorite Japanese foods. We found a building with two stories of little okonomiyaki stalls.

Okonomiyaki stairs

While we were eating the television was filled with news about Typhoon Nangka, which was possibly approaching Hiroshima.  Or Kyoto, where we were scheduled to go to tomorrow.

We sat in a park, read our emails and checked the weather.

And did a little shopping.

We decided the impending typhoon doom wasn't striking until at least 3am, and since everyone else was out, we decided to hit the streets for a few drinks, starting our bar crawl with sangria at the hotel bar.

I'm not sure what was in that sangria, but when we left and went around the corner, we encountered a large turrtle.

Our last, and longest,  stop of the evening was the balcony of an 8th floor bar we visited a few times last trip. The owner was thrilled that we remembered and returned 2 years later and let K choose the music for most of the evening while I enjoyed the hammock.

8th floor views

I snuggled into my "typhoon cocoon"

We left around 1am to get a bottle of water and a snack in case there was a storm.