I woke this morning to birds chirping and the sunrise peaking through the trees on the rice paper sliding doors. I slept in the tatimi mat room under Fergs beautiful painting of the Irish Famine Road. We had morning coffee and great a great chat. We took our time getting ready for the day. I am temple and shrines out so we decided to just experience the city and see what the day brought. Ferg showed me around the university (Kansai Gaidai) where he is a professor...

I am writing this blog Saturday morning sitting on the couch in Fergs lovely apt. The sun is shining in on my face and the birds are chirping outside. On with the blog.... As I really did not have any plans for the day other than getting to Osaka by early evening I took my time getting up and ready for the day. I went down the street and got a coffee then headed over to the river and sat by the river next to the A Bomb Dome. I sat there for about half an hour, mo...

I am feeling a bit better today. I had a big sleep in and did not leave my room until 10am. I found a cafe and had breakfast and a coffee. My hotel is about a 2 minute walk from the A Bomb Dome so I made my way over there for a visit while it was light out. Just as profound in the light. I crossed over the river on the Aioi Bridge that was the intended target of the bomb and entered in to the Memorial Park from that end. I made my way to the Atomic Bomb Memorial ...

Another long but spectacular day!! I woke up pretty early as this seems to be the norm. I tried to make myself sleep in but it just wasn't meant to be! I packed up and headed to Kyoto Station which is a spectacular station! Very modern and huge! I put my bag in a locker and got myself on the train to Inari. I am a pro at the train now by the way! Inari is just two stops away from the Kyoto so not really a big deal really! There has been one particular Shrine that...

Ok let's try this again....I am feeling a bit better. I have come down with a horrible cold and thankfully brought some cold medication with me, although it will run out soon! I decided to book a tour to cover as many places as I could in one day. I booked a Kyoto/Nara full day tour. We started the day visiting the Nijo Castle. The castle was built in 1603 . It is one of the finest examples or early Edo period and Momoyama culture in Japan. The gate in was so bea...