A touristy day out

A friend from uni, Broggy and her new chap came to visit for a couple of days which has been great fun, I haven't seen her for quite some time so it was good to catch up, she hasn't changed a bit, it's so good to hang out and just fall back into conversation like it was yesterday when we last saw each other.

 We decided to take them to Kawagoe which is a lovely little city, it has a tourist bus that you can jump on and off so it is quite easy to get around. First we went to Kitain Temple which has some beautiful gardens and you can walk around a good section of the temple buildings.

 It is also the home to the 500 Buddhas, this is one of my favourite spots, each Buddha has a different expression, I jokingly said to Ebi-kun that he should count them to check there are actually 500, he got to about 130 and gave up.

 Some of you might recognise these two fellas having a chin-way, I wonder what they are talking about?

We actually spent quite a long time at Kitain, we stopped for some dango and wandered around the whole place before heading for the high street. The rough plan had been to find somewhere there for lunch but we ended up snacking on things like freshly made anpan, senbei and pickles.

Ebi-kun kun was starting to lag so we stopped for a coffee and bagel, found a great spot which was upstairs so we could people watch whilst we put our feet up. The main street has a lot of the old traditional buildings and the shops sell specialised goods such as knives, umbrellas and erm food!

Last stop was penny candy lane, yes a whole lane dedicated to sweetie shops, many giving out little samples, Ebi-kun was in heaven, this kid is happy to sample anything!

 We also spotted these little critters made from the nuts of a ginko tree, very cute!

Ebi-kun was pretty much wiped out when we got back, it is the most energetic day we have had since he got sick but the meds do seem to be helping and at least he is able to sleep at night. He has gone off to yochien today, it is a half day so we are easing him back in. I have just put Broggy and Roger on the train, hopefully they will make it to Kyoto OK by themselves. Now, business should return to normal!