We left behind the beautiful city of Hiroshima and drove north to Okayama. Okayama lies approximately half way between Hiroshima and Osaka. The next day was Christmas Eve and we took the girls ten pin bowling, which they loved of course. After that we went and looked at Okayama’s iconic Korakuen Garden and the 16th century Okayama Castle. The gardens are rated in the top 3 landscape gardens in Japan, and were quite beautiful. I imagine all these places would look even better in the spring.