Many Experiences in Kyoto

The day began really early for us. We boarded a bus at 7:40 and headed from Kobe to Kyoto. From the bubbling spring at the Buddist temple to then overwhelming power of the Shogun Palace- Nijo Castle- to the beauty of the Golden Temple we were impressed with the old capital of Japan- Kyoto. Here we are at the Spring of the Singing Water.

We tiook off our shoes to visit the last castle of the last Shogun of Japan. He wisely gave the castle to the emperor when it was clear that the emperor could defeat the Shogun. It was interesting to learn about the rituals in the court...and the fact that everyone- including the maids kept a dagger handy to "take responsibility" for anything they had done wrong by committing suicide. This is the entrance to the Shogun Castle where we had to take off our shoes and wander in our sock feet....and it was cold. The floor was this amazing construction called a Nightingale floor that truly did sing as the people moved along the way. There was no furniture in the rooms because if tables were needed for food the tables were brought out and if it was time for sleep the floors were covered with quilts. The painting and gold leaf on the panels in the castle were wonderful.

We ate a tradition Japanese lunch with 9 different containers in front of us. We clearly knew the raw tuna, the fried rice and the ice cream. The other dishes were very unusual and some were quite tasty.

We also visited a lovely garden that featured a gold leaf Buddist Temple where supposedly some ashes of Buddha were buried. It was a beautiful building and the garden was quite peaceful and nice.

What has amazed us the most about Japan is how very, very clean the citites are . People pick up or carefully deposit their litter in every place. The houses are neat and wherever there is a spare spot of land there is something green growing. The other interesting thing is we have not been able to find an ATM or get any money exchanged and shops rarely -in the museums and tourist places- take credit cards or US cash. We may actually leave Japan and not have bought a thing. You'd think they would be more on top of that.

Tonight we had a great Italian dinner at one of the special restuarants on board. We do like Oceania.