Our trip to Japan was Tom's ambition. The only thing I could think of, apart from experiencing an intriguingly different culture, that I really wanted to see apart from Hiroshima, were the snow monkeys. I came for the snow monkeys, and we've always said "see what you can , while you can - while you have your health and mobility". I just never realised that I could have mobility one day, and have it compromised for I-don't-know-how-long, the next. So, a 35 minute ...

After a breakfast of sandwiches (with broccoli on them? But they were nice!) and coffee, we went out of the station and around the corner where we were collected by a bus and taken to a bus depot where we were given our tickets and told which coach to board and the off we went. Our first stop was the Meiji Shrine, a large shrine dedicated to the empower Meiji, renown for the restoration of the country. The original shrine was bombed during World War II and a new ...

This morning we took it easy, sleeping in and having a leisurely breakfast before checking out at 11 am. We made our way to the station across the road and deposited ourselves in the Shinkansen waiting room, with all the Japanese passengers. The weather has turned wet and cool, thank heavens. I had not brought summer clothes with me. The locals are all dressed up in thick coats and scarves, but I get hot and covered in sweat! So we caught our Shinkansen to Tokyo ...

'Twas an easy start to our day, with our tour guide being just outside our hotel door. (Gosh we've been lucky with the the locations of our hotels). There were three buses from the Sunrise Tours leaving on the morning tour of Kyoto that we had booked on. Also on our bus were the lovely Argentinian family from yesterday, who greeted us like old friends. We also got to talking to a lovely young couple from Perth who are on their honeymoon, having married on Februar...

Today was a big day - and it was only a morning tour, but it was a walking tour! Which would have been fine, one week ago, but alas, not this week! Tom hunted and gathered from the Scottish restaurant for breakfast once again, and mindful of the request for less, returned with something unidentifiable, along with a coffee and a hash brown. The burger, whose name he knew not, had lettuce, and cheese, and a pattie that seemed to be chicken, but also grated carrot a...