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We're now on the last day of our holiday and off off out shortly to spend the day in Hiroshima. We're only here three nights as we had difficulty finding a hotel. We've since found out it was the 71st anniversary of the atomic bomb being dropped on Hiroshima and as such there was a big memorial with paper lanterns sent down the river.

We managed to get an earlier train here on Sunday than the one we had booked so arrived at about 12. The hotel was easy to find as it's right next to the train station. We weren't able to check in until 3, do left our luggage at the hotel and headed for the atomic bomb dome and memorial park. It was another hot day so we relented and caught a tram across. They seem to operate a tram system here rather than subway, a bit like San Francisco, you just hop on and pay a flat rate of 160 yen so pretty straightforward. We managed to see the dome and went in the memorial museum which contains stories, images and artifacts from the bomb. It's very moving  and clearly explains the human cost of atomic weapons. 

On our first full day here we visited Miyajama an island just around the coastline. We got a JR train using our passes and then it was a short ferry ride across to the island which could also use our passes on. The island is inhabited by wild deer that wander around quite unphased by tourists and are happy to be stroked and fed. We visited the Itsukushima shrine which appears to float on the water when the tide is in and also saw the large Tori gate which stands out to sea a little. We had a good wander around and also tried to go up the ropewalk cable car but we're unfortunately suspended due to an approaching storm. 

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Yesterday we decided to take a trip out to Rabbit Island which was used as a factory for producing poisonous gas during the war. Now all that remains are a few ruins and a population of thousands of wild rabbits. The island is a little off the beaten path and required a couple of trains and a ferry to get there but was totally worth it. We hired bikes and cycled around the island stopping frequently to feed the rabbits with some rabbit food we had bought on the way. At certain parts of the island as soon as they heard the rustle of the food bag lots of rabbits came running. We had a fantastic day and it's definitely worth a visit.

Got to leave it there for now. It's time to check out!

Today we decided to visit Eastern State Penitentiary, which was once famed for its progressive system of imprisonment but is now a crumbling ruin. We booked tickets online,, to avoid queuing and also to get a slightly cheaper rate. Even better, we had a coupon to get a further two dollars off - winner, winner! We also discovered that there is a really useful bus that operates around Philly - the 'Phlash' - primarily for tourists, I think, but it loops the city, stopping at key tourist hotspots and single tickets are only a dollar! A day of bargains so far. It conveniently stopped outside the prison so we were soon 'in the clink' and getting our audio tour started. 

The audio tour covered the most significant features of the prison - it was designed to promote 'penitence' hence being named a 'penitentiary' and it was all about completely isolating the prisoners. They had their own cells, their own yard (open to the elements) and were not released from cells at all. Theoretically, it was to encourage reflection and repentence. Over the years, as the war on crime picked up in the States and masses of people were being incarcerated, they had to extend the prison, so things changed gradually. But there is a lot of the original prison structure to have an idea of what it must have been like, although it is beginning to disintegrate and crumble away. It is really quite eerie in some parts. 

From there we wandered towards Fairmont park, immortalised because of the 'Rocky' steps that lead up to the Philadelphia museum of art that's near the bottom of the park. We walked up the steps - we could have run to be like Rocky, but no! - and had a little sit on a bench at the top. It started to rain a little bit so we had to put ponchos on but it passed over, so we 'de-ponchoed'. We decided to walk into the rest of the park and, as we were going down the steps, it started to rain again, so we 're-ponchoed'. But this time, it didn't stop. In fact, it rained more. And more. We ended up having to rush back up the steps and under the shelter of the museum, running through the flash flood water so we were pretty soaked by the time we got there. Thankfully it passed over again, so we decided to head back to the hotel. We waited for the Phlash again and were lucky to get on it before the heavens opened. It was a deluge! The bus saved us a fair bit of walking but we still had to walk a bit and the bus also stopped just before a river running down the street - so any part of our feet that weren't wet before, were certainly wet now! When we got back to the hotel, we muct have resembled drowned rats!

Ended up ordering Dominos for tea, rather than face the rain again.

It was another early start today to catch our bus to Philadelphia. The Greyhound bus was leaving Boston at 10.15 so we left the hotel just after 9. We had decided to walk over to the bus station as it was close to where we'd been yesterday. We stopped on enroute to pickup a Subway for lunch as the bus was due to take nearly 7 hours to get to Philadelphia. We didn't have to wait too long at the bus statioj before it was time to board. The coach was fairly comfortable with onboard wifi and power points should you need them. The journey itself was fairly starightforward, with a short 10 minute stop in Hartford and a slightly longer stop in New York, though we couldn't leave the bus in either case. We eventually arrived in Philadelphia just after 5pm and quickly found our hotel which was only a short walk away. We didn't do much with the evening after our long journey ordering pizza online for tea and watching a bit of TV before calling it a night.