The day started a bit unusually as I thought I’d head into Kyoto CBD to pick up some Bonito soup mix for mum (it’s much cheaper in Japan, she says) and thought the food court in JR Kyoto Isetan might be a goer. My lack of Japanese languaue and my lack of an idea of what I wanted to purchase bogged me down a little except for the iphone picture I had. I found a kilo’s worth and, yes it was much cheaper (rough the same price for 1kg as for 60g in Australia!).

I caught up with Anna & Sarah again at a patisserie Sarah’d been eyeing off. Unusually, this particular patisserie did not serve coffee.

Time to visit brother Jon’s place and have a bit more of a wander around. Judging by the landscape, there is a giant ‘big’ character carved into the side of the hill. I’d seen some postcards around showing that with some celebration where they light up the symbol at night.

The climate continued to be bitterly cold, so it only seemed appropriate to eat ice cream from a street vendor. They had a dozen odd varieties generally unknown in Australia. I had the black sesame whilst Anna had the cherry blossom. Cold but yum.

Visiting Ohara, we discovered another temple whose name completely escapes me now. Picturesque but freezing, so we kept moving.