i went to hiroshima. a month ago. i'm bad at this.

so as the title implies or rather quite accurately states, i went to hiroshima about a month ago. molly francis woods and i spent our spring break together and decided to head down south for a mini-vaca (i hate that word: vaca) but i loved the vacation itself. we did the usual: sightseeing, eating the "famous" food, snapping billions of pictures, and of course hanami-ing (cherry blossom viewing).

first molly came to visit me in takasaki and then i headed home to her delightful little town, togane, chiba. there we witnessed the very first cherry blossoms open as we strolled around the lake at midnight. we vowed to do this every night from then on. i'd like to say we kept that promise. i hung out with her friends and watched "lilo and stitch" and ate tacos. we had a japanese buffet lunch at trisha's (molly's friend) music teachers house with the whole family. this lunch lasted approximately 5 hours. and i say that endearingly, really. we talked about american and japanese culture in-depth (as much as we could with language barriers) and tried out one of the two grand pianos in their house. and ate a lot. i don't know if anyone understands how much japanese people insist you eat when you go to their house. even as we were leaving they were throwing candy and snacks into our purses. i'm not joking. they shoved about 15 sembei (rice cakes) into mine alone and then finally gave us a box to carry our "goods".



and then we packed up and headed to tokyo to catch our 9 o'clock bus to hiroshima. at this point molly either had food poisoning or the flu (we are still unsure). thus, a 11 hour bus ride, which isn't appealing in the first place, only made molly more ill. but she was quite a trooper and we made it without any hitches.

we walked everywhere (thanks for nothing nisson car rental with only one(!?) bike to rent). we visited the contemporary art museum and it's awesome (for lack of a better word--i also majored in art history, ah.) instillation: echo. the artist made a series of little trinkets including huge music box coffins that viewers could play with. outside the museum they had a sculpture by henry moore surrounded by cherry blossoms, lovely.





the next day we braced ourselves for an emotional time at the "genbaku dome" and peace museum and park. it's hard to believe that the hiroshima you see in the photos after the a-bomb is the same city we see today. there was nothing left within seconds. and it's even more frightening to know that there are thousands of more powerful nuclear weapons out there today. why are such things necessary? i could say the same thing about guns in general regarding the resent events in virgina. ah.






ok, then we enjoyed okonomiyaki. twice.

and we also went to miyajima island, a world heritage site, and hung out with the "majestic" wildlife which were actually just meangy-looking deer. the deer's favorite food seemed to be paper as they nabbed it from people's hands. the reason the island is a world heritage site probably has to do with the itsukushima shrine and the fact that it has been dubbed "the most holy island in japan". it's also home to one of the most famous images of japan: the torii gate floating in the sea. molly and i first went during low tide so we could walk right up to the gate and touch it, but we had to return the next day to see torii-chan (an affectionate term we gave it meaning "baby gate" in japanese) in all its glory.





we also took the cable car up to the island mountains and hiked up to the highest point. while we were there checking out the view we met some british junior high school students. i don't mean to toot my own horn or anything, but they thought we were the coolest of the cool. throughout the rest of the day we'd see them on the island and they would yell to us "ashlee!" they didn't know molly's name because...why didn't you tell them your name molly? also, at the top an old japanese man was really excited about taking molly and my photo next to the sakura. he was really enthusiastic in his offer so we took him up on it. thanks.

anyway, that was long-winded but it includes just about everything. 楽しいかた molly. thanks for being my travel buddy.

goodbye to winter....and my stylish pajamas

these pajamas would not have been possible without the thoughtful omiyage "penang, malaysia" t-shirt from molly. thank you molly. i know many of you have experienced this out-of-sight style first-hand at various sleepovers at my house, ski trips, and pajama parties this winter, and i'm sure you are sad to see them go too. just know that next year (even though we may not be together) i will again be slumbering away in what some have called "the ugliest outfit ever".