Saturday March 25, 2006. Masako and Takashi picked us up from the Hotel at 7:30 am, and we took a bullet train (Hikari Shinkansen) into Kyoto, Japan. Here's a picture of the Hikari:

Before dropping us off, Takashi gave us a sightseeing book of Kyoto and an address of a Japanese Bed and Breakfast Hotel called Mifuku in Ponto-Cho. Here is a picture of the guide-book. This book was extremely valuable and had a great map of Kyoto:

Masako and Takashi had searched the internet and found us a nice bed and breakfast. They were lucky to find it since someone had cancelled the night before. As we were getting on the bullet train, Takashi told me that he had also paid for the bed and breakfast! We really owe them big time!

The bullet train took us from Yokohama to Kyoto in about 2 hours and 20 minutes. We were probably going 160-180 miles per hour. After arriving in Kyoto, we hiked from the train station to Kamogawa (the “duck river”) and then followed the river until we found our bed and breakfast, located near the famous Gion district in Ponto-Cho. I found a picture of the Ponto-Cho street in my new guidebook, which is only wide enough for three people.

It was still early, so we left our luggage and took off for another adventure by foot. We probably walked at least 8 miles on Saturday. On our way to the Kiyomizu temple, we got a couple of shots of Sam with girls dressed in kimonos:

I asked the girl below (in Japanese) if I could take her picture. She said that she wasn't Japanese (in perfect English), and that she was Chinese, and from Hong Kong:

Here is a picture of Sam and Celestine on the “Kiyomizu no Butai,” which means the clear water temple stage.

There is a famous saying in Japan: “Kiyomizu no Butai kara tobiyoreru,” which means “jumping off the Kiyomizu stage,” describing the act of summoning all of one's courage before plunging into the unknown. Near the Kiyomizu-dera, we found these small stone statues dressed in aprons and bonnets:

After returning to the bed and breakfast, each of us took a bath in the “ofuro,” played a hand of cards, and went to bed on our individual futons. Here is a picture of the "ofuro," where you wash and shower before removing the top of the wooden tub and soaking at about 45 C.

Here is a picture of Celestine sleeping in her futon: