We checked out of the ryoken and walked the couple of blocks to the train station easily enough. Mom expressed her delight at the ryoken experience. Leo, not so much. He had a point when he said it wasn't authentic because it was a hotel and not a Mom and Pop B&B type small place. I get that. I hear him. And. This was near the train station which has been a major part of our planning where to stay. And it was affordable.
When we got to the train station we hung out at a bakery and Mom and Kenji bought baked goods and drinks to justify out sitting there. Mom and I bought sandwiches and drinks for the Shinkansen train ride to Hiroshima and as soon as our train appeared on the big board we went through the ticket gates and found our platform, mere minutes before the bullet train arrived.
We boarded and once again Mom & I stowed our big bags near the door. What a grand thing, not having to heave them over over our heads to the luggage storage over the seats! Kenji & I sat together with Mom & Leo behind us. We ate, drank (non-alcoholic), read (me) and dozed (Kenji) and every so often checked his app to see how fast we were going. The app recorded that at one point we were going 191 mph! Zowee!
A short 1.75 hours later, what would've taken 4.75 to drive, and we were in Hiroshima. I noted that it wasn't yet raining. Perhaps that's the next 3 days, the whole time we're in Hiroshima, as we've seen on the weather apps. *groan* We got into the station and found the exit for Taxis easily enough and were soon being whisked away to our hotel. How grand!
We arrived at the hotel and it's large, has an expansive, elegant lobby and after asking to have rooms next to each other, and that taking a little extra arranging, we were on our way to our rooms. Kenji had high hopes as the last time we stayed here, 21 years ago, we were given a very large corner room. That's the main reason he chose this hotel, memories of it being a great place to stay.
The reality of it now is, we booked with hotels.com and got rooms next to the elevator. The rooms are certainly larger than our rooms in Kyoto and while they aren't futons on the floor, the beds are not far off the floor. Our view is mainly overlooking the porte cochere (valet area) with a bit of the adjacent marina. Mom has noted that the TV is the smallest one yet. LOL. We gathered laundry and searched the hotel info about what floor it is on for self-service laundry. Not seeing any info on that, i called the Operator, only to be told no, in fact, the hotel does NOT have self-service laundry, but they DO have a paid laundry service. *groan*
So a plan was hatched and I offered to go with Mom to a local laundromat Kenji found online. I downloaded the Uber app so I could get us there and back, allowing Kenji time to do some work work. We packed all the laundry into his suitcase and off Mom and I went. I ordered an Uber taxi and a car matching the description showed up, we loaded the suitcase and got in. The man indicated he wanted to know where we were going. I looked it up but then realized, I put that info in the app when I requested it. Why didn't he know it? I asked if he was Uber taxi and he said no just as another Uber taxi showed up. I saw the valet speaking with him and I jumped out and yelled "That's my Uber!", The valet told the driver who pulled around to where we were as we unloaded the suitcase and had the new driver put it in *his* taxi. Sheesh! Ok, lesson learned. Laundry was then accomplished.
We walked to a nearby Family Mart, found some items for everyone for dinner, finally got an Uber Taxi back to the hotel, hung up our wash only clothes to dry, ate dinner with the guys. There is nothing, nuh-thing around our hotel to walk to easily for food. This isn't going to be a location that Leo can just take off and go exploring like he has the last 2 weeks. We're going to have to plan in advance for breakfasts and dinners, if we're back at the hotel early like we have been in the past at times.
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