Kanazawa

It was farewell to Kyoto this morning to catch the train up the north coast to Kanazawa. Once dropping our bags off at the hotel we walked to the Omicho Market for a nose around then on to Kanazawa Castle looking lovely surround by cherry blossoms although we had to leave earlier than planned as we had a tour of Myouryuji at 2pm. It is referred to as the Ninja Temple because it is a temple that hides the number of floors there are, hides rooms and doors so the Samurai that were guarding it could hold secret meetings, or attack anyone trying to attack. There were 23 rooms and 27 staircases and numerous traps dotted around the building, we really enjoyed this tour despite the tour guide speaking in Japanese... he did tell us to read the relevant pages of a guide book they provided. As we walked back to the hotel we stopped at a restored Samurai house with garden.

In the evening we had ramen for dinner, which we've found commonly was ordered and paid for via a machine/kiosk, then you go in and hand the tickets to the staff who bring you the food. We can't quiet work out why this way of odering is so common. Anyway we walked back to the castle area,, through a walkway in the dark with loads of statues and blossom trees, then a garden are in front of the castle. It was a lovely walk however we were in a need of a taxi back to the hotel.

We had planned to move on tomorrow, but think we will try and squeeze in more of the castle area early on. These couple of days are a bit tight for time but we'll work it out.