After the emotional visit to the peace park in Hiroshima we headed by train and ferry to Myajima Is to see the floating tory gate which is famous and if i could post a pic you would know it, it is big and orange... so we landed on the island and I opted to climb to the top of the mountain to see the view rather than take a cable car. Myself and 3 others painfully climbed up steep steps for 45 mins to see a wonderful view of all of Japan bathed in glorious sunshine and then had to walk down again,. Wild sacred deer roam the streets among pilgrims and tourists and look cute. The island is beautiful and we watched the sunset thru the tori gate before we set sail for Hiroshima.
The following day we had to leave again to catch a train to Kyoto where we did not waste any time and went to a site of 1000 tori gates. I think I have seen enough of them to keep me happy for the rest of my life. We returned to town and had sushi at a sushi train and there were several chefs moulding rice and slicing fish to keep the conveyor belt full at every point. There was so much variety it was delicious. After we ate our fill we split up and I headed to the Nishiki food markets, a long undercover stretch of interesting dried and fresh foods and other random stuff and then the Kyoto Manga museum which was fascinating, I went onto the Gion area for dinner and spot geisha, which I didnt. Poor girls have people waiting with cameras and tripods set up to catch them flitting around, like papparazzi, and I have heard people literally stampede towards them when they are spotted with flash bulbs flashing. eek what a life!
From there we had japanese bbq and went to an all you can eat and drink place for 1.5 hours where you have to stop and leave after your time is up. You get to cook it all yourself over a scorching grill in the centre of the table and there was a vast array of meats and seafoods, salads and drinks. then we hit the sodden streets of Kyoto with umbrellas in hand and got back to the hotel in the pouring rain.
Man the rain did not stop and has been relentless since yesterday. It is not fun being soggy and siteseeing in the grey, cloudy atmosphere totally wet thru. However we managed to see the a shogun castle, Nijo with nightingale floors... they squeak when you walk over them and warn of intruders... then we went to the famous Golden temple but it was literally pouring so hard to get the classic photo we all wanted, so we trod along the path to the gardens and tried to keep ourselves dry along with several hundred other people trudging along. There are many Japanese tourists and pilgrims as well as the other bloody tourists. Another bus ride took us to a zen garden where we were told it represented birth to death by placement of stones, raked gravel and trees... we were let loose after that huddling under umbrellas not sure what to do as it was not a day to stay outdoors. I opted to go to Kyoto station and it is so big，like a mini city, with many floors of shops and food that I got lost and the maze of underground arcades disorientated me completely, so was in a bad mood after I finally found my way out and back to the hotel. Sake and dinner followed and another nite trip to the Gion area for a last wander up the narrow streets Geisha spotting, but my score is still 0.
Early start tomorrow to head to Mt Fuji and an onsen, a public japanese bath... hmmmmm....but it is still raining and the famous mountain may hide from us which will be really bad news... then onto Tokyo
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