Kyoto

We woke up to the news of the earthquake in southern Japan on the BBC. We hadn't felt anything despite being nearer than Tokyo where apparently it was felt.

One good thing about the apartment - we have 2 bikes. The city is large so we would save lots on bus fares. Cyclists ride on the pavement which is a nightmare for pedestrians but it is the done thing. When we rode on to the road once where the pavement was packed we even got stopped by a policeman!

As Jess and Ryan have already done the city sightseeing we didn't plan to meet up today and had said "goodbye, see you in 2 weeks" last night.

Our first stop was the Philosophers Walk which was a 40 minute bike ride away. As we turned a sharp corner to get onto a path at the start of the Walk I came off the bike - very gracefully. I have a bruise shaped like a number 9 on my shin. We set off again and lo and behold there was Jess to our left who was out running! After a chat and a second "goodbye, see you in 2 weeks" we rode down the Walk.

There are 100s of temples and shrines in Kyoto but most charge admission fees and we are rather 'templed out' so we got to the end quickly without stopping to visit any on the Walk.

A handicraft centre was next on our itinerary but this was really just an expensive shop with a couple of crafts people tucked away upstairs. They were making some exquisite Amita Damascene with inlaid silver and gold.

Philosophers Walk

Craftspeople and their work

This shrine was lovely - and free! It made a good lunch stop.

Seaweed flavour crisps - quite tasty

After lunch we had a great time at the Traditional Crafts museum. There were videos showing the various techniques of making fans, weaving etc. My favourite was the stripping down of a huge bamboo trunk resulting in a tightly woven basket made from thin strips of bamboo. The attention to detail in all of their ancient crafts still made today in Kyoto is incredible. In a hall in the same building there was a sale of everything required to dress traditionally and there were many Japanese in there buying.

We rode through a park then locked up the bikes and walked around an old part of town.

We plotted our ride home with part of it alongside the river. About 5 minutes into the ride we came across Jess and Ryan sitting having a rest! Couldn't believe it. We had a chat and said our 3rd "goodbye, see you in 2 weeks".