Hiroshima/Miyajima Nov 2011 - Part V

Continued from Parts I, II, III and IV.

After departing Miyajima, we took the tram bound for Hiroshima Station. Halfway through the journey we stopped by a fishing tackle store (which I spotted the previous day when we were heading towards Miyajima pier) for hubby to shop. After browsing around the store for more than an hour and purchased a rod that he has been looking for, we headed back to the tram station.

By the time we reached Hiroshima station and checked into Sheraton Hotel, it was already late afternoon. The room was big and luxe indeed.

Very comfy and cosy King-size bed.

Bathroom with all the amenities.

The bathroom is sort of open-concept.

Work area and flatscreen TV with cabinets that conceal fridge, crockery and cutlery, coffee/tea making facilities, wine, snacks and etc.

Wished I could linger in the room more but I was running out of time to shop!! LOL. So I left hubby in the room and went towards downtown Hiroshima for my shopping marathon. Only had time for Sogo Departmental Store and the connecting AQ'A; Loft (one of my must-visit shop in Japan) is located at Level 8 of AQ'A. Both stores are huge but close at 8pm.

Met hubby for dinner. Ate at a Tonkatsu restaurant at the top level of Sogo. Not sure if it was due to late hours (8+pm) or a weekday, the restaurants were all quite empty. Ordered a Curry Tonkatsu which was ok, but not the best that we've eaten.

After dinner, we went back to JR Hiroshima Station area, browsed at a bookstore and supermarket and then back to the hotel.

The next day, hubby had to go for his meetings already, whereas I had about 6hrs to short before catching the night flight back to Singapore.

Hubby set off for breakfast quite early whereas I lingered in the room, enjoying the scenery and comforts of the room. How I wish I could stay longer. In fact, I was so dumb for not staying for more days.

Lingered for a while more before heading out. The stores open at around 10-10.30am, so I reckoned I had time for breakfast and then a quick tour of A-Bomb Dome.

Had a ham and egg sandwich set breakfast at Cafe Doutor which is similar to Star Bucks/Coffee Bean. The sandwich was delish!

Then I took the tram to the Genbaku Dome-mae station which is near the Atomic Bomb Domb and Hiroshima Peace Memorial.

The whole area was peaceful and serene, with some groups of visitors taking photos.

After the short tour around the area, I headed back to the downtown shopping district where I started my crazy shopping marathon.

I was quite ambitious as I aimed to walk through all the major malls around the area, covering Mitsukoshi Department Store, Tenmaya Department Store, Fukuya Department Store, Parco Department Store as well as Shareo Underground Shopping Mall. Due to limited time, I merely browsed through the stores quickly, only stopping longer for shops that I was interested in, such as Laura Ashley and Watashi No Heya located at Mitsukoshi, Muji and Francfranc at Parco. At Muji, I found some toddler t-shirts on sale at half price, like 250 yen for a t-shirt! Didn't know what I was thinking, only bought a few pieces and totally regretted not buying more pieces to keep since it was such a bargain and the material of the t-shirts was good too. Till now, I still regretted terribly!

After covering the department stores, I went in search of a zakka cafe located off Hondori, called AIDA with Cafe. Quite easy to find as the downtown area of Hiroshima is planned in grids and not too complicated.

Ordered a Winter Special afternoon tea set (actually hadn't eat lunch yet but I was more keen in dessert) which was caramel chiffon cake with tea.

Love the decor of the cafe. The shop was divided between into 2 sections, cafe and zakka shop.

The Caramel Chiffon Cake came with a scoop of vanilla ice cream too. As I was quite hot from all the walking, got an iced earl grey.

The chiffon cake was really good! It was lightly toasted on the surface and dusted with some icing sugar and a light drizzle of caramel sauce. The cake was crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside, and was slightly warm which complimented perfectly with the cold ice-cream. Heavenly!

Didn't have much time to linger around too much, so after the tea, browsed around the zakka shop for a while before heading to the Shareo Underground Shopping Mall which is at the underground cross junction at Kamiya-Cho.

There are a number of zakka shops there too, like my favourite Afternoon Tea and Natural Kitchen.

Could only do very quick and brief shopping at the shops as I had to rush back to the hotel to pack my luggage already. Didn't even have time to shop at the JR ASSE which is just next to the hotel. There are a few zakka shops there which I wanted to check out but ran out of time! *sigh* why didn't I stay for just one more day?

Back in the hotel, I quickly packed my luggage and took a warm bath, just as hubby knocked off from work. We took the Airport Limousine Bus to Hiroshima Airport and had udon for dinner.

After the dinner, I bade hubby farewell and checked in. All the shops at the public area of the airport closed at 8pm and there was only 1-2 small shops at the departure lounge. Anyway, didn't have to wait for too long before boarding the domestic flight bound for Haneda Airport. Once again the flight took about an hour and half. Once I reached Haneda, I had to take a shuttle bus to transfer to the international terminal. Had planned to shop at the international terminal but unfortunately the shops closed (around 10pm) by the time I reached. Well, no choice I could only shopped at the departure lounge . Found my favourite Yojiya yuzu lipbalm at one of the DFS shop, and managed to spend all my yen!! Heehee...

The flight back home was uneventful, couldn't really sleep well as usual. Upon touched down at 6am, I went home for a quick wash-up and had to go fetch dear son from his grandma's place already :(((

So this ended my short 4D3N trip to Hiroshima and Miyajima. Next and final entry, I will share some of my haul :p Stay tuned!

Travel resources

• Aida with Cafe http://www.aida-inc.com/shop/hiroshima_naka.html
• Francfranc http://www.francfranc.com/
• Afternoon Tea http://www.afternoon-tea.net/pc/
• Muji http://www.muji.net/
• Natural Kitchen http://www.natural-kitchen.jp/
• Sheraton Hiroshima Hotel http://www.starwoodhotels.com/sheraton/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=3595