We titled this photo "jealousy." If you look closely you can see why.Next thing we know, after we get back, a sudden rainshower is upon us, and we are all rounded up to hit the road. We through our load into the back, and scramble into the car, on our way to our furthest destination, Hiroshima! Maria's aunt insists that we stop at a service area not too far down the road, after finding out that I had never tried kibidango (a kind of sweet famous in Okayama), and buys both me and Yuriko cute boxes full of it. We stopped for lunch a bit further down the road, and Yuriko and I bought her aunt a special kind of cheesecake (ah the gift juggling rituals). 
Kibidango, anyone?
Cold though it was, I was suddenly overcome with a hankering for some soft cream.
A hankering which Yuriko apparently shared.
Followed up by some hot takoyaki...mmm icecream and hot octopus.
And then...Hiroshima arrival! What a beautiful city! It was love at first sight- although just for me, Yuriko still swears by Kyoto.
Since Hiroshima is built on a delta, the ground is to sandy and loose for a subway system, so the lovely city is full of old street cars! Some of them are new, some are over 50 years old!
We first went to the station, and upon finding a huge and reasonably priced import store, went a bit silly buying snacks and coffee and tea (hey, it was Christmas day, we were buying ourselves Christmas presents!), and then headed off to find our hostel. When we found them, they were tremendously generous and because the dorm rooms were full, offered to give us a private 2 person room for 2 nights for the same price, AND they fed us dinner for free! The hostel's name is J-Hoppers, and I would definitely recommend them to anyone who goes to Hiroshima, and apparently they have another one in Kyoto as well. So we reveled in the joy that was having our own space and some peace of mind for the first time in a few days, and then set off to the pub where we were supposed to be meeting Paul and Paul, and playing that night. We ended up being quite early, as they didn't need us for a few more hours, but we drank and relaxed a bit, and ate (again) REAL fish and chips. We sang a few songs by the Be Good Tanyas, and though we were a bit disappointed with our performance, overall it was a enjoyable, entertaining Christmas.
Then, as we were walking back to our hostel, through Peace park and over the river, laughing and leaping over shrubs and tearing across streets in the still, biting cold late night, the snow started to fall. Only for a few minutes, only tiny, light flakes, but it fell onto our heads and our noses and our numb fingers, and we danced our way home with the magic.
