It rained all day on Sunday so we didn’t do much. Went for a walk to Nishiki Market, which was really the same as every other market in Asia. Lots of fish products and knick-knack shops.
On Monday, we went our separate ways with most of the group going to the Starbucks set up in a 100 year old building, the only Starbucks where you sit on tatami mats, they went onto see the pagoda and Sally got a great photo with the blossoms.
Rosie and Bruce went off the Nijo Castle and had a very nice walk around the grounds and through the castle. It was originally built by the local Shogun as a bit of a challenge to the Emperor, but later when Japan unified, the castle became an Imperial Palace. It was very interesting with a mote around the outside and then another walled section inside with a mote around this as well. Obviously if someone breached the outside walls, they had to do it all over again to get to the Shogun.
After the castle we went to Nanzenji Suirokaku Shrine, which has a large aqueduct going through the grounds taking water from Lake Biwa to the town. The canals were also used to transport rice and other products around the region. They had an interesting rail system there also that took the canal boats overland to the next canal. The shrine was similar to every other shrine, with large prayer rooms and incense where you can make wishes.
The gardens at both places will be magnificent in another month or two with all the blossom, but now you can just see a few blossoms forming.
After our pleasant morning trekking around we stopped in for lunch at Tiger Gouza. We went there for dinner the previous night and it was very good. Set in a small narrow three storey building, you wouldn’t go in normally, since the bar at the bottom looks pretty dingy, but this is the same for most of this style of restaurant and if you allow yourself to be put off, you will miss a great meal. Rosie and I both struggled to climb the narrow stairs to the top, neither of us have recovered from the stresses that skiing put on our bodies.
