Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Brad and Scott and I left Tuesday morning to travel to Hiroshima.  We arrived in the afternoon and checked into our hotel.  We were trying to save a little money so we got one hotel room with 2 twin beds that were as hard as bricks.  Scott and I shared a twin bed and Brad slept on the other one.  I didn’t sleep too well that night.  We got separate rooms for the next three nights and bigger beds too!  Anyway, back to Hiroshima.  It was the highlight of the trip for me.  I have read the book, Sadako and the 1,000 Paper Cranes to my students every year.  It is about a 11 year old Japanese girl who is exposed to radiation when she is one years old and dies from leukemia 10 years later.  Scott and I also recently read Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand.  It is a true story about Louis Zamperini who fought in WWII and was a prisoner of war in Japan.  I would highly recommend it as a book you should all read.

In Hiroshima we walked through the Peace Park where they have a statue dedicated to Sadako.  Children from all over the world make colorful paper cranes and send them to be displayed there. 

We saw the Atomic Dome.  It is the building that took a direct hit from the bomb and it still stands as a reminder today. 

We walked through the museum and saw a lot of great things in there, but we were kind of in a rush because the museum was getting ready to close.  We hope to be able to go back again before we leave Japan.