Iwakuni & Miyujima

Today has been a very busy day. And since I already described most of it, I will just share pictures. Matt's ghetto van. Dead serious. You have to bang the dashboard to get the lights to work. And yank the back door to get it open.A building at the Shinto shrines.One of the several shrines.Prayer slips tied to the trees.The shrine Jodi and I went through.Part of the cemetery for the lords of iwakuni.Tombs of three of the early lords of Iwakuni.Iwakuni castle. Which, of course, closed the day I came in and opens a few days after I leave.Me at the Kintai bridge.The bridge was built this way to prevent samurai armies from quickly advancing on the castle.Impromptu market at the river bottom near the bridge. I bought chicken from the stand on the very right and it was soooooo delicious.Me and one of the wild deer that roams Miyujima. Ignore the part where the deer is frisking Matt.Me at the Otorii gate. The gate is 1400 years old and has been balancing unanchored in the same spot since it was built.The five story pagoda on Miyujima. Crazy tall.The marketplace at Miyujima. Tons of wonderful little shops full of various trinkets.