Little Kids and Kurashiki, WTRD 25 of 49, September 28, 2017

Goodbye Hiroshima, Hello Okayama

We said goodbye to our little abode in Hiroshima. More train wise than before, we boarded the correct train to Okayama late morning and arrived at lunch time after passing through numerous tunnels.  We found our hotel, but check in was at 2:00, so we dropped our bags and went out for lunch walking around our neighborhood within a few blocks from the train station.

Our hotel is the big white one, across from canal street.

Another old street covered over and now indoor, outdoor mall. 

The pastries in Japan look wonderful.

We couldn't resist trying the Terryaki Burger at McDonalds near the train station, and sat next to this  little cutie.  She was with her Mom and infant baby brother....and the burger was great!

Our room is smaller than the shoe box in Korea.  We have twins beds and since there is no floor space for the luggage, we have it stacked between the two beds.  Fortunately, we can get up on the outsides of the beds so we don't have to crawl over our suitcases.

I am backed into the corner diagonal from Russ taking this picture with my iphone.  Talk about tiny...this is it.  Good thing we don't spend much time in our room.  After we got ourselves organized, we went back to the train station to take a local train to a destination we had read about but wanted to see for ourselves. It is the city of Kurashiki.  Just as in Okayama, there is a canal that runs through the town, and the old section of town is still well preserved and very picturesque on the canal.

Our train took about 20 minutes to reach Kurashiki.  We sat across from another cute little kid.  He was mesmerized to sleep by the train and the warm afternoon sun.

His eyes grew heavy, his head began to droop.  His mother pulled him over onto her lap and he crashed within seconds.

One of the things we have learned about the train stations in Japan is that they are large indoor cities with shopping malls and great restaurants.  We surmise that many Japanese just eat on the way home from work.  The restaurants we have tried in the stations have been excellent, and we have been the only non-Asians in these restaurants.

The view of Kurashiki from the train station

Utility Hole Covers Are Very Artistic.  Hiroshima was a maple leaf.  Here it is wisteria.

We only need to walk about 500 meters to the old section of Kurashiki along the canal.  It was overcast and cool when we left Okayama, but by the time we got to Kurashiki around 4:00, the sun was out and the sky was blue.

Tourists

Local Artists Working in the Mellow Sunlight of Late Afternoon

Beautiful Courtyard and Event Center at the Kurashiki Ivy Square

After a lovely afternoon walking along the canal and adjacent streets we headed back to the train station, the contemporary focal point of every city.

We returned to Okayama, had a terrific dinner again in the train station and headed back to our hobbit room.

Tomorrow, we will explore Okayama.

All is well with the Worrall Travel R's In Okayama.