First leg of the trip, to the McDonalds

So we previously stayed up super duper duper late with Essie and Abby, spending as much time hanging out, because we knew time was short... We played Donkey Kong and sat in the kitchen laughing and carrying on. We woke up early that morning (8am) and headed to Hikone Castle, it was super awesome, words cannot describe... If I were a Shogun Lord, i would totally take that castle over anyone that we had seen so far... so many traps, tricks, and just plain good defenses... P.S. funny side story, i bought an umbrella with a handle of a ninja sword hilt...we thought it was going to rain that day so i toted it on my back the handle sticking out... I got a tons of reactions from everyone! most people laughed, most kids said cool in Japanese, and we all heard many whispers of "ninja" nearby...i felt pretty sweet to be honest... so early afternoon we hopped on the train again and headed to Iwakuni to Meet my friend's (Ben and Maggie Browning) parents (who I have never met before).... So funny story, I met Ben and Maggie literally like 2 months ago, and they heard I was going to Japan, and were said that I should go and stay with their parents and to hang out with them...so we did... we stayed 2 nights with them..and they were an absolute RIOT!! incredibly gracious hosts! we got off the train and they took us to see the iwakuni castle (like the 5th castle we have seen on this trip... and still just as cool!!) we saw the legendary Iwakuni bridge, which back in the day was only a crossing for Samurai....so of course we played a game of Samurai ninja or ninja as other people know it.... and saw Iwakuni White Snakes, and some other things... They were sooooooo happy and ecstatic to have us there... We soon found our that Bill works on a military base teaching kids in the school. They said that most Americans on base stayed inside the base and didn't travel outside it much and all around had a negative outlook on life... so it was refreshing for them to have four young guys with high energy and great lookouts on life! we had an absolute blast to say the least with them...They took us out to the Chicken Shack, (despite the name, it was incredibly upscale and nice) it was way up in the mountains and a completely different feel and atmosphere to it. it was awesome to say the least...we came home with the McDonalds and had hot chocolate and cookies and brownies for the evening... we went to bed then..

the next morning we got to tour the military base for the morning, we went to Bill's classroom and met his physics class, saw the video editing class, and headed to the food court...in which we ate Subway and Burger King for lunch...it actually threw my system for a loop as I am now used to non-greasy, non-American food... we then took off at 11am and headed to Hiroshima... We went to the Peace Museum, Peace Park, and the Atomic Bomb Dome. Talk about mixed feelings, an American Military Base in the morning, in which all the people don't go outside the Base and have a negative outlook on live in Japan...and the Afternoon in a Museum in which shows that Japanese's side of the Atomic Bomb being dropped. It really put a new perspective on the use of the Bomb. It blatantly said a few things about America that is not published in our textbooks or said...but if you read into it, could be interpreted. It also focused mainly on the tragedy it caused and why disarmament should be done and not used anymore. It really was interesting and you have to go there to get the feel of it. It was sobering to say the least. we also walked around the park and saw the memorials from the different countries of people that died by the bomb. I was thankful to be there and experience the museum.