Half an hour train journey and we were in Kyoto, which had been the capital of Japan for a thousand years. Another big city but this one was different from Fukuoka or Osaka, no overpowering high rise and limited neon, much more traditional in many ways. We hired bikes and set about exploring the "city of 1000 temples" We were generally "templed out" in Japan but nevertheless were totally "blown away" by the Golden Temple, which was totally impressive by any standards, its form perfectly reflected in the surrounding lake -Awesome. This renewed our enthusiasm for temple viewing, we cycled to the other side of town to the Silver Temple (originally built as a retirement villa for Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa) which was set in pretty Zen gardens but did not have the "Wow" factor of its Golden sister. We completed our hard day pedalling by returning along the 1.2 miles river bank (philosophers path) and diverting through the Imperial Palace gardens.

We roamed the neighbourhood in the late evening, most restaurants appeared to be closed or empty - Finally, we cautiously entered a "shop" with a lot of Japanese business types standing around. We were virtually sucked into the establishment and they created a makeshift table for us by balancing a tray on a stack of beer crates. The alcohol was in fridges, you took what you wanted and at the end of the night, paid for the empties around you. Before long we had developed a new language that was a hybrid of English and Japanese filtered through an alcohol-based translation process - What a great night.

The next few days were spent visiting interesting places, within an hour's train journey from Kyoto - Most notable were Nara, the home of the great Buddha, which is housed in a wooden building, claimed to be the largest wooden building in the world. The Park that surrounds the town is home to several Temples, Shrines, Pagodas and gardens, not to mention the 1200 deer and thousands of tourists that wander around the area. We spent an entire day walking the area and despite the tourists and the tiredness it was a really good day - The level of exercise must be doing us some good.

Another day in the Kyoto area was spent in Arashiyama, where we took the "romantic train" through a forested ravine along the banks of a river - The original plan was to return by boat, braving the fast-flowing rapids back to town but the water levels were too high. Back on the "romantic train" but alighted about a mile and a half from the town to experience a walk through the "bamboo forest", a romantic pathway, with the overhanging bamboo meeting in the middle and creating an intimate "tunnel of love" - Which we shared with a thousand other couples.

On our way "home" we stopped in Kyoto station ….. described by Lonely Planet as "a futuristic cathedral for the transport age" - A fanciful description but actually quite accurate ….. The views of the station internally are incredible, escalators climbing skywards with changing imagery emerging from the steps is just one example of a visual experience that falls somewhere between architecture and art. The outward views from various photo vantage points were equally amazing.

On our last day, Heather found another mountain to climb, it was Mount Inari, which was home to the Fushimi Inari-Taisha - Basically, another shrine but involving a 4Km uphill climb, mainly steps and seemingly never-ending. Along the way were several other shrines and the entire route was lined with vermillion dori (red gates) about every 10 foot - Visually amazing but difficult to understand…… My fit-bit counted about 25,000 steps and gave a culture score of 8.

In was 5:50pm and we were passing a bar that advertised "Happy Hour" until 6:00pm - It seemed like Karma, just time for a quick beer before heading home for dinner. The bar was up some narrow stairs and pretty small, it had about twenty customers and it was full. Despite being already full, we got a big cheer as we entered and with combined "Tetrus" skills we made the bar in time for our one happy hour drink. The place was buzzing, English, Welsh, French, Canadians, Spaniards all seemed to weave their way in and out, talking, singing and cheering - Perhaps this exploration of other cultures isn't so bad after all……. Four hours later we finally left, slightly drunk, a little hungry but very happy.