I slept REALLY GOOD last night. As it turned out, we were setting up the bedding incorrectly. Apparently, the things we were using for mats are also meant to be used as comforters, which Charles found out when he went down to the front desk to find a blanket for me. We felt really silly, but at least got a good night of (warm) sleep.

In the morning, we awoke to a nice sunny day, which was refreshing after yesterday’s chilling rain. Charles had found out that we could buy bus passes that would give us almost unlimited bus usage for one day, so we bought tickets at the front desk and made for the nearest bus station, armed with our bus maps, which turned out to be very useful. We stopped along the way at another cafe, which again, we assume was meant to be French-style cuisine. I ordered a ham and cheese breakfast sandwich, was was interesting because the ham was inside the sandwich (like normal), but the cheese was melted on TOP of the sandwich. It was pretty good, though I was not expecting the ketchup that was also inside the sandwich with the ham!

After breakfast, we got on the bus to head to Nijo Castle. We were pretty impressed with ourselves for figuring out the bus system and for managing to get off at the right stop. We bought our admission tickets into the castle grounds and were immediately approached by three young Japanese girls (sound familiar?), who asked us “Excuse me? Do you speak English?” We told them that we did and they explained that they were students at the University and would like to give us a free tour of the castle as part of a school assignment.

These girls obviously spoke much better English than our friends at the Todai-Ji temple. One of them was studying Sociology, another Japanese, and the other one English. You could tell that the girl that was actually majoring in English was much more fluent and that the other two girls had obviously chosen wisely when selecting groupmates. The girls did a great job with the tour and the castle was different than the Iwakuni Castle that we toured, mostly because of the floors, which were called “Nightingale Floors” because they were made to chirp like nightingales as you walk on them to warn of any intruders. After the tour (and several more pictures), we thanked them and wished them good luck with their studies before moving on to tour the surrounding gardens.

While we were touring the gardens, we passed a tea ceremony house and decided to stop and participate (for 700 yen each). Neither one of us had studied much about tea ceremonies, so we had no idea what we were supposed to do. Luckily, we followed another couple of water buffalos (I believe they were from Europe, since they were white and spoke another language that we did not understand), so we tried to follow their lead. We removed our shoes and sat (or kneeled) where the Geishas gestured.

They brought each of us out a flesh-colored ball of pastey goo (which I was very apprehensive about) and gestured for us to eat it with the pointy wooden sticks that had been provided. As it turned out, the ball was made of sweet bean paste, which tasted just as it sounds like it should taste. I was not a fan. I tried to wash it down with the green tea that they brought, but it just stuck to the roof of your mouth and in your throat, making it difficult to swallow. I noticed that charles had finished all of his bean paste, so I kept sneaking him parts of mine while the geishas weren’t looking.

After we were finished, nobody knew what to do. We were in a stand-off with the other couple, all of us intent to sit there and wait for someone else to make a move. Luckily, just as the lower part of my body was falling asleep, someone FINALLY got up and all at once, there was a stampede of water buffalo attempting to exit the tea house.

After touring the rest of the grounds, we got back on the bus to head to Kinkakuji Temple. The temple was very beautiful, as it is plated with gold and shimmered in the sunshine. I was glad that we waited until today to see it when the sun was shining, rather than yesterday in the rain. The gardens were also pretty, but not as beautiful as the gardens around the Ginkakuji Temple that we toured yesterday.

Next, we got on the bus again to go check out a Zen rock garden at yet another temple, also surrounded by another beautiful garden. The garden was pretty cool, but I didn’t feel very Zen… probably because my feet were cold from having to take of my shoes to tour the temple and because it was so crowded. We spent a little more time taking pictures in the garden before getting back on the bus to head back to Kyoto Station (near our hotel).

By the time we left the temple, traffic was pretty backed up and our bus ride(s) took a very long time. We finally made it to the station, where Charles checked out the Astroboy exhibit and I chilled out for a while. When he was finished, we grabbed some dinner at one of the restaurants in the station. We both ordered “sets” (Japanese version of combo meals). Mine came with squid pizza and fried noodles while Charles’ came with the fried noodles and takoyaki (octopus balls). Charles let me try some of his takoyaki, which I was foolish enough to cut in half so that I could see the tentacles peeking out at me. I was brave and ate it anyway, but it was chewy and rubbery and I was glad that I had beer as part of my “set” to help me wash it down. As it turned out, the squid on my “pizza” was also very rubbery, but luckily there were no tentacles.

Finally, we made it back to the hotel where we both took advantage of the public baths (I’m going to miss this.. even though I had to share this time) before unwinding in the hotel room for the rest of the evening.