June 14th - continued

As we continue to wander we decide to go looking for the Silver Temple or Ginkakuji and on the way find a charming little restaurant with about eight tables. We order from the picture menu and all get the bentu box, except Andy who wants even more food! We have rice and beef (?) we think, and misu soup which is delicious and they bring us seconds. Everything is prepared right in sight and the four young people working there are charming and seem genuinely pleased that we are enjoying our meal so much. Once again Andy impresses us with his Japanese. I ask if I can take a picture of the two young men and they laugh and agree. The two young ladies seem to want their's taken, too and I am happy to oblige. (If I can figure out how to put pictures where I want them, you will see them here. Otherwise, look back up at the top, along with our friends from the morning and the gorgeous standing Buddha) (Hmmm, guess starting a new entry is the easiest way!

After that marvelous meal we need more walking! Next stop is the Silver Temple or Ginkakuji Temple. There is a raked-sand garden which was designed to reflect the moon light so that the temple would be as gorgeous by night as it is by day. The grounds are breathtaking, see photo above, and the sky is finally blue. We've been lucky so far and it hasn't rained on us, although we are all prepared with umbrellas and ponchos. (Thanks, Dale!) Andy is collecting photos of the places where you symbolically cleanse yourself at each temple and we now know what he talking about since our friend taught us this morning. We will continue to collect those for him after he goes home.

We follow the Path of Philosophy in search of more temples, specifically the Honen-in but the path is blocked for planting of new trees to replace those which were damaged in the winter. We wander quite a ways and Andy asks for directions several times. Luckily many people are out working in their gardens! There is one lady who wants so much to communicate with us, but she has no more English that the rest of us have Japanese and she speaks really, really fast! At any rate, we find a magnificent cemetery and we are all fascinated by these and spend lots of time taking pictures and marveling at the beauty.

There are lots of school age boys practicing for cross country. We see them everywhere but we only see two girls?! Don't know what that means. They seem to be taking a short break at the base of another temple, but it is closed and we realize that it might be time to head home for a short break and then dinner.

We're all (well, maybe not Andy) pretty beat and take the bus home. If you don't have the exact fare you can get change on the bus and if you aren't comfortable with the coins, the driver, who is always wearing gloves and, sometimes, a mask, will select the proper coins for you. A word about the money - the coins are equivalent to a penny, nickel, dime, fifty-cent piece, one dollar and five dollars. After that the money is in bill form - 1,000 yen (ten dollars), 5,000 yen ($50) and 10,000 yen ($100). Another word about masks - perhaps one person in every few blocks. Almost all food workers and trash collectors seem to wear them.

We have decided on going to one of the "sushi-go-rounds" and one of the kids at the hostel suggest one that is in walking distance and each plate is only 105 yen. We head out and only have to wait a few minutes for a table. All the seats at the counter are taking but the table is fine. The sushi goes around on a conveyor belt and you snag the one you want as it passes. Then that one is devoured you snag another until you're full! There are even desserts! Andy does most of our snagging and he wins that most-plates award with nine! I am proud to say I came in second with six! I had crab and shrimp and egg and shrimp tempura California roll and some sort of tuna (?) salad. Andy says you are really supposed to turn it upside down to dunk in the wasabi and soy sauce, but that is more than I can manage! I can manage to grab them with the chopsticks and eat them in one bite! The guys also get dessert but the rest of us are done! We pay our tiny bill (mine was about seven dollars!), walk home and crash!