Kyoto day 1

How amazing - fabulous scenery and beautiful costumes.

We went by bus to Kiyomizudera Temple and walked around that area, being transfixed by the architecture, the people and even the tail end of cherry blossom. It was pretty busy with tourists mainly from Japan. A lot of the young women hire the outfits to be photographed with the blossom,

Another bus took us to Nishiki Market where we perused the unknown but fascinating foodstuffs before stopping to find lunch. I popped into a cafe/stall promising tempura veg while Mr C opted to go round the corner for a pork noodle dish. I drew the short straw and the so-called veg turned out to be a mass of chips in batter with 2 minute bits of broccoli sitting on sticky sweet rice. Carb overloaded I found Mr C and joined him for a beer.

By now it was pouring but we pressed on, and got a bus to the castle. However when we got there the ticket booth had closed, so we made our way back to the hotel for a little rest before venturing out to find some food.

The city is much bigger than I expected but the hotel is above the bus station so it is - mmmh - supposed to be easy to get around. We got a 2 day bus pass. We have been subjected to the orange-uniformed chap who is employed to push us into a space on an already crowded bus.

An early start tomorrow as there is so much more to see and so little time!