Kyoto and the Voodoo Doll

This is our last guided tour until we hit South America. We meet Mami in the hotel lobby and off we set, using public transport most of the time. Our bus journey takes us to Nija Castle - and these are not castles in the European form, but basically massive stately homes surrounded by a wall and a moat. This property was the residence of Takugawa Leyasu, the founder of the Edo Shogunate, and completed in early 1600. The floors of this building are made of wood, but they did not creak. Rather they sung like birds (it's called the Nightingale Call) and Mami explained that this was to deter possible intruders. We then see the Golden Temple, which is absolutely amazing as it is set next to a lake and has over 20kg of gold leaf, so it reflected into the water like a mirror. Our next visit was to a rock garden. Mami told us that this was a little known attraction until the Queen visited it many years ago and actually said it was her favourite place on that particular tour of Japan. It was a bit surreal looking at 15 bits of rock placed on a gravel surface within a courtyard enclosure; but there was a sort of peace and detachment from the world that Diane and I often get sitting in our walled back garden.

Lunch was at a traditional restaurant where we sat on the floor and had noodles and sticky chicken with green tea. Then off to the Kiyomizu Temple, which is perched high above the city, and to a spot where historically women, who were unhappy with their husbands, would dress in white and at 2am nail

an effigy against the tree that was there and hope that they could be freed. We then stroll through the Higashiyama district, filled with shops selling souvenirs and flocked with many locals and tourists, a considerable number dressed in traditional costume. Mami explains that the attraction of dressing up was to post pictures on Instagram. She guides us back to our hotel and bids us farewell. We decide to take the underground to the restaurant we ate in the previous evening, but it's not open! So we see one close by and go in - another French place, in fact, and the guy cooking the food is in full sight of the tables. Only him - he cooks, takes the orders and serves the food, which is a countryside fare from Alsace. It's a very German / Austrian menu (I have sauerkraut with my course) and I later read that this French region that borders Germany has been fought over for many centuries.