10:29:54 We'd arranged to meet Chie's friend Masumi for a tour of Kyoto today. This here is Chie punishing her sister for taking us the wrong way.
11:37:15 The famous bridge in Arashiyama, a district of Kyoto.
11:41:07 Chie on the bridge.
11:54:18 We'd decided to visit Tenryuji temple. Superbly, it appears they serve shoujin ryori - the traditional food of Buddhist monks, which is inherantly vegetarian. Any other vegetarians that have visited Japan will know of the plight I usually suffer trying to find something suitable when eating out in Japan. This could well be the first time I've seen the word vegetarian written down in Japan. In the end though, we decided not to bother, as it was vastly over-priced.
11:55:04 A little Zenish ensemble outside the main building of Tenryuji temple.
12:00:47 Some of the temple gardens and pond.
12:01:11 Perhaps this wasn't the best time of year to visit. I think these temple gardens are more often that not designed to be viewed in spring or early summer.
12:01:54 A view across the lake/pond.
12:02:39 Another view of the gardens...
12:02:57 Chie and Kana, possibly reading a sign.
12:04:54 Not sure what this was, but I probably shouldn't have taken a picture of it...
12:05:56 I rather liked this tree.
12:06:14 I'm very fond of the kind of veranda style walkways many of these temples seem to have.
12:08:41 Another view of the gardens. My camera, which I'm beginning to realise has a bit of a mind of its own, decided to make everything look very pale today.
12:09:37 A little stream running through the gardens.
12:09:56 You can't beat a good bit of cloistering.
12:12:05 Again, not too sure what this is, and I probably shouldn't have taken a picture of it.
12:14:10 It's important to emphasize just how wooden these temples are. They are, not to put to fine a point on it, very wooden.
12:18:17 Here's Masumi, Kana, Chie and an unrealistically pale background.
12:29:29 Harry Potter has been very big in Japan, apparently.
12:32:35 Many of the temples in Kyoto seem to be located conveniently next to a hill, and the walk around the gardens often includes a bit where you can look down on some of the buildings.
12:33:28 Again, very very pale. A bit frustrating.
12:33:37 Still though, I guess it does at least emphasize the winteryness.
12:34:07 Me, Chie and Kana. Lovely.
12:37:12 Hmmm not sure why a foot on the fence was necessary...
12:37:22 ...maybe Chie is trying to draw attention to her shoes?
12:40:28 Some bamboo trees.
12:41:42 Strange how the gardeners at this temple have blended the mystical and ancient with the kind of the thing you might put in your own back garden...
12:42:35 This was a well in fact, where the water was supposed to bring love and happiness.
12:44:18 Here's me drinking some of it, I thought it best to take a picture to show to the hospital later.
12:46:49 Momiji leaves on the bed of a stream
12:55:46 Leaving Teryuji temple now.
12:55:53 I thought I'd try that shot again without the bike in it.
12:56:04 Here's the girls trying to decided where to go next, or perhaps how to get there.
13:12:31 First stop though, a tebahodai just across the road.
13:13:06 This was my first time in a tabehodai. This is basically a Japanese all you can eat buffet. Surprisingly, there were quite a lot of things without any meat or fish in, so I actually really enjoyed it.
13:18:26 The buffet counter, the essential backbone of the tabehodai.
13:29:12 Chie going back for seconds.
13:51:33 Chie going back for thirds...?
14:24:59 While the girls looked around a decorative glass shop, I entertained myself by photographing some big vegetables.
14:29:16 Anpanman, on the gates of a nursery school. Anpan is Japanese for bread filled with Anko - red bean paste. Thus here we have a somewhat unconventional superhero, constructed from bread and beans.
14:31:16 I think this is some kind of funeral parlour, or something along those lines...
15:57:40 Here we are learning how to do woodblock printing in Kyoto Handicraft centre. Unfortunately, the settings on my very temporamental camer were wrong again, and so we end up with this strange, slightly psychadelic, blurring effect.
15:58:59 Here's me doing some woodblock printing.
16:08:15 Chie putting the finishing touches to her printing masterpiece.
16:14:51 The chap who taught us what to do, pictured on the right here, was utterly adorable.
16:15:38 Here's one of the finished products.
16:21:07 Meanwhile Kana and Masumi had been making some kind of ceramic pendants.
16:21:14 Here's the pendants before being baked...
16:45:19 Apparently, the scene in the woodblock painting was close by, so we attempted to go and find it. On the way there was this big temple thingy, which may or may not be associated with the gate in the print.
16:45:37 Here it is again, with Chie in the shot also.
16:48:23 Enough sake to drown an elephant in. Sadly, I think the barrels were empty.
16:51:03 An attempt to take a picture of the gate in the woodblock print whilst crossing the road.
16:51:26 There it is. To be honest, I much prefer the way it looks in the print.
16:54:29 A little bit of a sunset. I rather liked the way the thin wisps of pinkish cloud were reflected in the river.
16:54:47 Same sort of thing again.
16:55:47 There's that gate again. Still think my print is better than the real thing.
17:09:06 On the way to find somewhere to have dinner we wandered past this place and the sign caught my eye - Saloon de Nakagawa. It looks like the Maison de Stuff is not unique in its querky naming convention.
17:33:11 Prior to dinner, we popped into Chie's favourite little Japanese sweets cafe in Kyoto. Here's two kind of sweet soup things, both containing baked mochi (sticky race cakes). The one on the left is green tea flavoured, and the one on the right is red bean.
17:35:57 An old favourite miturashi dango. Kind of sweet dumplings in sugar and soy sauce. Very tastey.
17:36:15 Chie enjoying Japanese sweets.
19:14:29 Not long after that snack, it was apparently already time for dinner. This place was a traditional style of Japanese restaurant where each group has a whole room to themselves. Ours had a view overlooking the river.
19:14:48 It's difficult to get a feel for the room from the pictures!
19:58:00 Nabe again - although this one was distinctly fishy so I steered well clear of it.
19:58:44 Kana eating. I wanted to get the flowers behind her in the picture - I thought they were really pretty.
21:15:24 Usually within the first couple of days of being in Japan, I suffer some degree of culture shock. So, to resolve this, as it was on the way, although I felt like it was cheating terribly, we popped into an English pub. It's called The Pig and Whistle. The decor was really quite authentic, I was impressed.
21:15:46 I'm almost ashamed to admit having been to this place, this is the sort of thing I normally utterly avoid when going abroad. Anyway, whether good or bad, I really enjoyed this tiny little slice of Englishness.
21:15:52 I think there's an element of you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone here. Being in England, it's easy to forget just how great pubs are.