Boy, we lolly-gagged even longer yesterday than the day before!  We only had one stop on our agenda and decided to let everyone sleep as late as they wanted to.  Unfortunately, for me, my body doesn't let me sleep in and I was awake by 5:30 am.

After all the sleeping and showering was done, we finally headed out about 11:30 am.  The bus stop we get on at the hotel is the first of the route, so it was empty when it arrived and full with the aisles full of standers, too.  There's something going on at the hotel as a lot of uniformed school girls were getting on, going into the city.  We pondered if it was a field trip that brought them to stay at the hotel, but they didn't seem to have any chaperones with them.   I was glad we got to the bus early and got seats!

We took the bus farther than we've taken it yet and when we got off and I engaged Google maps to guide us, we were surprised to find it was taking us underground.  Looking at the intersection I saw that it was a huge intersection with no crosswalks, so underground we went.  There was a whole shopping area down there!  Restaurants and stores, it was huge!  We navigated our way and Google Maps brought us up again directly in front of the place we wanted to be, the Hiroshima Orizuru (pronounced: or-ee-zoo-roo) Building.  Orizuru means paper cranes, the kind you associate with Japanese culture.

The Orizuru Building is a business building, except on top is an observation deck that directly overlooks the back of the A-bomb Dome.  It's a modern observation deck with steps and a wide ramp, all made out of gorgeous wood.  The 180 degree overlook of Hiroshima is breath-taking.  We spent at least 30 minutes here.  Kenji pointed to the nearby hills and told us that on the other side of the hills is where his Grandfather grew up.  The hills and trees are so very green, large and lush.  I'm envious of the beauty in the midst of an expansive and bustling city center.

After spending time on the observation deck we were invited to walk down one flight to the Orizuru Welcome Center where we were given a square piece of colored paper with patterns of our choosing and given instructions on folding our own cranes.  The adults in our group had issues and a very kind woman helped us.  A lot.  After folding our cranes we were shown an enclosed, narrow glass ledge out over the side of the building to walk out on to the spot to drop our cranes, adding them to the 1 million+ others.  The project is wanting to fill the side of the building with paper cranes in hopes of world peace.  Mom decided not to take the walk out on the ledge, so I took her crane with me and the 3 Lusters walked out, found the openings where we were to drop them, and did, watching them float down.  Granted, it's tight in there and we couldn't really tell if they went all the way down and got hung up on a ledge, but we were pleased to have contributed to the hopes for peace.

One of the options for a way to get down (from the 15th floor) was a slide, which Leo opted to take.  I felt like too much could go wrong for me, so I opted for the elevator.  I just missed getting to the bottom of the slide to get his picture when he got to the bottom, but he said it was not fun, unfortunately.  It wasn't slippery enough, and they hadn't offered him the thing to sit on to make it slippery.  He had "crab-walked" all the way down, he said, and his legs were sore as a result.  Bummer.  I had hoped it would be fun.  Mom and Kenji stayed up top, reading some history of the building and its design and came down later taking the "slope" ramp the whole way, which Kenji regretted afterwards due to his bum knee.  We went across the street so we could get a picture of the side of the Orizuru Building 

Leo had done some Googling and found a place for a lunch back underground in the shopping center and led us there.  It was a soba noodle place and we each had different items.  He had a duck ramen with cold noodles on the side that he dipped in the broth before eating.  Mom had a veggie ramen, Kenji had a beef ramen and I had chicken katsu set.  It came with a side salad and a chicken patty breaded and deep fried on top of rice and a scrambled egg as well as noodles in a broth.  It was all oishi and the ladies working there were very kind and happy to see us.

With a warm full belly, I was feeling sleepy and decided to head back to the hotel for a nap, despite it being like 3:45 pm at that point.  Mom decided to come with me so she could do some reading.  The guys went off window shopping.  It took Mom and I a long time to get back to the hotel, having just missed our bus and having to wait 20 mins. for the next one and the bus ride being 30 mins.  While on the bus Kenji and I were texting and decided since lunch had been so late we really didn't need "dinner", so he and Leo were going to pick up dinner from a convenience store on their way back.

I fell into a nap and woke up about 90 mins later feeling refreshed.  Mom was asleep now.  I looked at my phone and Kenji had texted about 10 mins earlier that they were back.  I let him know that I was awake but Mom was not.  Once she woke up they brought us the items we requested for a light, in-room dinner.  I got dressed afterwards and Kenji & I went up to the 23rd floor to the bar/restaurant for a drink and views of the city at night.  We did this when we were here 20 years ago and it was still lovely!

The drinks were small, but less than $11 each, and not very heavy on the pours.  Oh well.  We enjoyed just being together just us for the first time this trip.  As we were getting ready to order a 3rd round, a server came and showed us her phone with a Google Translate on her phone that there were about to be fireworks out the window of the restaurant and we were invited to go watch.  They turned out the lights and the fireworks lasted maybe 5 minutes.  It was fun and festive and a fabulous way to end the evening!  I Google Translated on my phone and asked another server why the fireworks happened, was it for any reason?  I was told simply "Special Day".  Ah.  Ok then.

We ordered a 3rd round of drinks, paid and went back to our rooms, where I collapsed on the bed and was sleep shortly after 10 pm.