Shrine

This is in Suizen-ji gardens. My photos of the gardens didn't turn out well and I preferred this shot so you'll have to take my word for it that the gardens were lovely. Or have a look at the photos here.

This afternoon I walked back around the castle area. The light was much better so the extras show the more of the damage to the castle from the earthquake. But not all the castle has collapsed and there's enough remaining to see just how impressive it must have been before the quake.

I left London 2 months ago today. So for the record, some figures:
Countries: 9 (4 transit (France, Belgium, Poland, Belarus), 5 visited (Germany, Russia, Mongolia, South Korea, Japan), all except France blipped)
Distance covered (approximate - Mongolia was difficult to measure!):  18,015 Km or 11,260 miles of which 15,773 Km or 9858 miles were overland