Regan and Nick

We had a short last morning in Kyoto, with another trip to this wonderful bakery down the street from our hotel. Arrived home to the cats and our lovely home. It's nice to be back, but we're missing Japan and the constant time together already.

All the museums are closed on Monday so we spent the day looking at shrines and shopping! We both got some great clothes and nick went record shopping for a few hours. We rented bikes from our hotel which made everything much quicker. We highly recommend bikes if you visit Kyoto, it's fairly spread out and it can save you a lot of time. We're happy to be heading home tomorrow, but kind of wish we could stay here forever.

Nikishiki Market- a crowded open air market 6 or more blocks long. Some of Regan's favorite curiosities were: Wasabi plants, beautiful Matsutake, Maitake, and Eringi Mushrooms, Hoshigaki (hand peeled and massaged dried persimmons), giant yellow Chrysanthemums, and Soybeans on the stem sold in bundles.

We arrived in Kyoto and our hotel has a 3-7 happy hour with all you can drink. After a couple of whiskeys and a beer (for nick) and sake and some beers (for Regan), we walked around the city for a bit. Visiting some record stores and searching for the restaurant that nick went to many many years ago. No luck finding that, but had great skewers at a spot in the busy section near the water. Regan's having a great time photographing chicki whom she rescued from the grabber machine at our hotel in Miyajima.

We dropped our large bags off in a locker at Hiroshima Station on the way to Miyajima and just picked them up again. Chiki has already made a new friend with red bag! It was incredibly convenient to leave our bags while we trekked around. Only $5/day. :)

Always choose the Japanese style breakfast whilst in Japan! :)

Our lovely dinner at the Miyajima Grand Hotel Arimoto

Yesterday we arrived and went straight for the ropeway. From the top there is a great little hike up to the top of Mt. Misen. Near the top is a wonderful little shrine dedicated to lovers (how perfect!) that it appears I didn't get pictures of with my phone. :) Afterwards we checked into our hotel, went to the public baths and had another lovely dinner. This island is gorgeous!

We had a heavy and yet wonderful day exploring Hiroshima. Every person on earth should visit the park, ring the peace bell, see the museum and understand the pain and horror that war and nuclear weapons bring the world. The only answer is peace, compassion and love. "We have known the agony of war. Let us now find the courage, together, to spread peace , and pursue a world without nuclear weapons." - Barack Obama

Up early to catch the train to Hiroshima and then off to our one night stay on Miyajima Island

Researching record stores beforehand proved very useful! Naminohana records 浪乃花レコーズ (naminohana-records.com) is open from 5-9 Mon-Sat and is tough to find! It's entrance is from the alley on the third floor of what looks like an apartment building with no sign on the door or outside. However, opening the door reveals a cute little shop with the records organized by genre in cardboard boxes, a little listening station and a guy behind a desk listening to and working on packaging tapes. It's a no shoes space as the floor is a tatami mat which makes it all the more special. This is a must see if you're into record stores and you find yourself in Osaka. Disk Union, a more corporate affair, but still pretty sweet is fairly close by as well.

Some more street art from Amemura, Dotonburi and Denden Town

We finally had some Ramen! Cute little place in Dotonburi, Ramen Kion.

Lovely early morning walk to Osaka Castle. What a beautiful and imposing fortress.

Took a short walk around Osaka. Not a lot of street art on tonight's route, but some fun little tidbits here and there.

Spent the day exploring the major cultural sites in Nikko. Walked across the Shinkyo Bridge, signed a shingle that will be used as part of the restoration of the Rinnoji Temple, explored the exquisite Toshogu Shrine (including walking up the long stairs pictured where we happily found a green tea vending machine). Now we're off to Osaka!

Nick-chan wa origami o tsukurimasu.