Vacation!!!!- Part 2- still in Iwakuni

Iwakuni is home to the beautiful Kintai-kyo (brocade sash) bridge. There are 5 linked arches that are amazing to look at, a challenge to climb with a toddler (the steps were difficult to see), but a great way to wear her out. It was originally built in 1673 but destroyed by a typhoon in 1953. It has been rebuilt as an exact replica.

Beyond the bridge, there is a nice park with a number of samurai houses. We chose to just walk around and not actually go inside any of them. Mary enjoyed seeing all the stray cats, the huge fish swimming the streams and ponds and basically, running around. Doug and I enjoyed stumbling upon an old shrine that was lovely and peaceful. There is a cable car that will take you all the way up the mountain to the Iwakuni castle, but we were too late and it was closed for the evening. Too bad, I think Mary would have loved the cable car. Oh well, we settled on heading back to town and having a fantastic Chinese dinner.