We could still taste last night's diner in our mouths this morning. Not too pleasant but the sleeping experience had been good and we were ready for another day.
We went to breakfast in our robes again. We were disappointed to see in front of us an almost exact replica of what we had had the night before. Rice, raw fish, tofu, seaweed (I think) and miso soup. We all ate the sticky rice (delicious) and there was also some omelette which Julian was able to eat.
After breakfast we took the hotel bicycles out for a short ride around Kyoto. The traffic was fairly light and it was good to see that the Japanese were always very polite even when one of the boys strayed too far into the middle of the road. At one point Sammy jumped off his bike in the middle of a cycle path to catch a look at a Great Blue Heron standing next to a river. Unfortunately he didn't look at who was coming down the path and he off loaded right in front of a Japanese lady on a bike. She was carrying an open umbrella in one hand and was unable to miss his bike. She hit it and landed up in a bush. But without ever looking in our direction, she simply re-mounted and carried on. Apparently the Japanese will avoid confrontation at all costs. Thank goodness.
We packed up and waited in the lobby for the arrival of our Japanese guide. Our host had linked us up with a Japanese friend who came and showed us around a local shrine and then took us to Kyoto station for the ride back to Ikoma.
The trip back was quite a challenge as we had to remember our lines and transfers but we actually managed without getting lost. The rail stations are about the only places that have any writing that we can read. In all other places there is no way or understanding anything. We couldn't even figure out which floor we were on when we exited a lift.
Jerry came to collect us at Ikoma and we settled back at home for the evening.
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