Visiting the Peace Park in Hiroshima

On Wednesday, November 21, we woke up to a beautiful day. While I got dressed, Maki and the boys had breakfast with Alex and Christine at Cafe Danmark, a coffee and danish place at the JR station. After breakfast, we all met up with Maki's parents and boarded the streetcar to visit the Peace Park in Hiroshima. The Peace Park is a beautiful and moving memorial to the 200,000 people who died when the US dropped an atomic bomb over the city, to the tens of thousands more who suffered from various illness, and to the idea of the world hopefully never witnessing the use of another atomic bomb again.

 

Here's a view of the a-bomb dome, which became famous because the structure and dome remained relatively intact during the explosion.  Turns out the bomb was dropped almost directly above the Hiroshima Prefecture Hall, which somehow saved the building from total incineration.

Here's Maki and his dad in front of the a-bomb dome.

 From the dome, we crossed a little river on foot to get to the Peace Park.

 

 Here's a cute photo of CJ goofing off

 

Here's a view of the reflecting pool in the peace park.

Visitors are encouraged to donate origami cranes, which are a sign of peace. Local artists then create sculptures from the cranes. This artwork is made entirely of paper cranes!

Another sculpture/monument at the peace park.

There was a small plaza with this sculpture in the middle and origami sculptures (I think they change all the time) encased on the glass booths.

The peace park was definitely worth the visit.