We got off the train in Hiroshima and walked to the covered shopping arcade. We had hit up Wikitravel for the 'best' shopping places for arts, crafts and unique gifts in Hiroshima, which was an area near the Peace Park. We'd been there before and knew where to go. The shopping arcade is actually on the Hiroshima tram line, but since we were hunting for shopping opportunities, we decided our best bet was on foot. Besides, we'd already used the trams a lot.
Shady shopping district
Hiroshima back streets
The shopping was obviously geared towards the locals, who didn't need unique and interesting souvenirs to win friends and influence people. 0 / 1 for wikitravel thus far. But wikitravel had an ace up its sleeve. The danbara something something. The name was long, so I only memorized part of it. And writing things down is so gauche.
More shopping streets
After reaching the end of the shopping arcade we hit up the information booth. And there on the map was the danbara shopping centre. Ha! Danbara! It was listed as a cool place to find unique and one-of-a-kind textiles, ceramics, you name its!
We set of on foot, yet again. We walked along the Peace Promenade. Belatedly, before we left, we remembered to snap a photo since we hadn't been to that part of Hiroshima before. Phew! Disaster averted.
Danbara was on the other side of a forest. We climbed some magical steps above a tunnel and entered the fantastical forest!
Climb the mountain!
A sky bridge!
This path looks promising
Oh no! Where did the path go? Rations are low!
The fantastical forest had a map in the parking area, and we were able to find a path that led across the mountain. Higher and higher we climbed, eventually reaching the penultimate peak! When at last we felt we could walk no further, when our energy was gone and our bodies broken husks, we discovered the Skywalk. We were saved!
Salvation!
The Skywalk was a random escalator in the park that runs for a good kilometer. Yeah. Weird, huh. It doesn't actually go to anything that we could tell, but it got us down the mountain in a hur...well, it got us down the mountain. Speed was not its strength.
At last! Danbara something something! Only...the Danbara we'd read about was two stories. The shopping center was nine. We wandered up and down but found no cool shops. We wandered down the street, up the street, around the block, around more blocks, back up the tower, over some other streets. There were no cool shops here. It turns out, Danbara is the district. It's like being told a shop is in Vancouver, vaguely over there. And try as we might, we could not find it.
Looking for Danbara Something Something in all the wrong places
Best pre-school ever!
Disappointed, we decided to walk back towards the station and catch a train to Miyajima. On the way, we found it! The Danbara something something! Only it sucked. It wasn't a unique shop with blah blah blah. It was a bunch of second hand shops with some random stuff in them, nothing too spectacular, unless you were into swords. Because one shop had actual katana (the plural) and some very nice furniture items that would be impossible to transport home.
Danbara something something
We gave up. Shopping was not meant to be. Around the corner, the tram line had a convenient stop. We hopped on the tram for the station and headed to Miyajima. When we got home later, I mapped our walk. We covered just over 10km in Hiroshima on foot, not counting the five department stores (and 40 floors) we visited.
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