The flowers that bloom in the spring

This morning I found a potential new pen friend. A young Japanese girl was staying at the hostel with her mother and sister, and she was keen to practice her English. We had a bit of a chat and I gave her my address in case she wanted to practice by writing to me (this works both ways, of course!). We also met a couple of young German women who were telling us that they always attract attention as one of them is very tall and the other speaks Japanese very well. They are a bit of an oddity to the Japanese people.

After checking out we walked up to the Chion-in Temple. We continue to be awestruck by the sheer size of these temples and the workmanship that has gone into their creation. We stoppped for a while to observe the Buddhist ceremony that was taking place.

We then made our way to the nearby Kodaiji Temple. This group of geisha girls gave John another photo opportunity.

And then there were the geisha dogs!

This little bub was staying safely within Mum's reach at a market stall

These girls were lined up for a photo, so we made the most of the opportunity!

Our next visit was to the Kyoto Handicraft Centre which has seven floors of displays, demonstrations and sales of Japanese craft works. A very polite salesman tried to sell john a beautifully crafted sword, but we thought that this might be a bit of a hindrance on a scooter. We did buy a couple of postcards and a pair of split-toe socks for me. As you do.

We then tried to find a special scenic bridge which John was keen to photograph. This involved scootering right across the city. This proved to be a VERY bad plan on a Sunday when the cherry trees were at their best. Everybody in Japan was in Kyoto today, so the traffic was horrendous. We eventually got through the city, found a place to park the scooters (illegally) and walked up to the bridge - only to discover that it was the wrong one! As we still had to travel to Hikone, we had to abandon the bridge idea. On the road again, we took the road route which follows along the side of Lake Biwa. The temperature dropped considerably as the breeze was brisk across the lake, but it was a nice ride once we left the heavy traffic behind. We saw fishing boats, mountains in the distance, kites and picnicking families as well as one rather unexpected sight. A young man, who probably lived in a crowded building, was sitting by the side of a bridge bashing away at his full drum kit. We hadn't seen that one in our travel guides. We stopped off for a sandwich for lunch and eventually arrived, like a pair of large ice blocks, at the Comfort Hotel in Hikone. We couldn't get into the bath fast enough! Once we'd thawed, we went for a stroll down the restaurant street near the railway station and found a nice little restaurant where nobody spoke a word of English. We did the old 'point at the menu' trick and had a lovely meal. I delighted the staff by saying 'Gochiso sama deshita' which is a kind of 'thanks for the delicious meal' phrase which Japanese people use to thank the person who cooked the meal. It was very nice to see the restaurant lady's face light up. I guess that means I said the right thing!

Tomorrow night we will be staying in a traditional Japanese Inn on the coast, near to the town of Obama, which is the Japanese word for 'The President of the United States of America'. (Not really)