6/11 Exploring Miyajima

So Miyajima is absolutely gorgeous, 10/10 would recommend to anyone traveling to Japan.

We had to be up and ready by 8:30 a.m.. After a hasty dinner and barely catching the bus, we rode up to the Mount Misen ropeway. I really did not know what to expect, as the only thing I knew about Miyajima was the great Torii gate that it's famous for. We took cable cars to reach a higher up station of the mountain.

A shot from inside the cable car.

Today was super foggy, so although we couldn't get too much of a view we joked that we were approaching the mountain that "is shrouded in great mystery" due to the fog. Once getting off the cable cars, of course we began to take lots of pictures of each other. 

Please ignore my unkempt frizzy hair I tried to control. It's quite humid in Japan. 

My selfie stick got a lot of work today. 

We then walked up the path to see a bunch of temples and shrines. I screwed up several times in bowing and praying, but hey I tried. I was tempted to buy a good luck charm from a Buddhist temple but I decided to wait. We also hiked up to the summit. On the way down, four of us took a detour to see a shrine that was by the edge of the mountain. We stopped at this huge boulder to enjoy the scenery. It was really calming, and the only thing you can hear was the birds. I'd love to go back up there again. Here are some pictures from the hike up and down-

Work it

After getting down from the mountain, we went back to the main torii gate and shrine. I couldn't take too many pictures with my actual camera because it died on the way down from the mountain. I did get a bunch on my phone though. While exploring the shrine, an adorable couple and their baby asked if I could take their picture. After doing so, I asked Grace to take mine in front of the shrine and the couple asked if I wanted one with Grace. I called two of the guys - Riley and Sherman - over to take it with us and then afterwards took their picture too in front of the shrine. This couple was so nice and it made my day! Their baby was also adorable as heck. Here are some pictures from the torii gate and shrine - 

Barrels of sake

This is a side note: peace signs are contagious. Expect a lot of them.

So I started writing this last night, but then started a game of Uno with some people. I didn't get to sleep until late again, which is the reason for the late upload. Sorry about that! We will be traveling to Kyoto today, so see you there!