Slept very well last night and woke up about seven thirty, which is worrying as Sarah said the door to outside opened and some chavy came in, I said 'how did you know it was a bloke?' she said 'I heard him take his trousers off' I didn't question this any further but was baffled. Went downstairs for a brew and went on Skype - my old dear was on and as she always asked 'what have you done today then?' 'mother it's seven in the morning we just got up!' 'oh yes I forget every time' no kidding! At about seven forty the nice Japanese lady laid breakfast out, there was fresh coffee, pure orange juice, tea and toast (the bread was the first real bread we had had and was about an inch thick), we both had tea, orange and toast with enough butter to give us a Sean Connery. Then shower time (for me but Sarah was to remain stinky). So clean and full we headed for our first stop just round the corner which was Nijo-jo castle which had a big moat round it but we sneaked a sneaky snap through the gate as it was three hundred Yen to get in, then we set off for Nijo-jin ya, which essentially was someones house and a few well known people had lived there over a long period of time. Anyway, it was closed for refurbishment so on the way to our next stop we found a lovely little street which was lined with shops for local folk selling fish (no chips) and vegetables etc. We then walked a long long way down the river to save us doubling back on ourselves later in the day. We passed lots of shops and department stores in quite a trendy part of Kyoto - this was too jazzy for us so we headed onto Kiyomizu-dera and on the way we had to climb a mountain (actually just a hill but knackering none the less) and there were great views over the city, we climbed lots of steps and passed two scary looking chaps encased in the massive orange gateway to the very big orange temple, inside there were nice gardens and several prayer rooms and for a real treat there were Geisha's and Sarah claims she will win young photographer of the year for a picture of two Geisha's looking out over the city (was a good picture though). When we left there we went down a cobbled street passed lots of touristy shops selling food, hand held traditional fans and more. We came across a street vendor selling something grilled, we didn't know if it were sweet or savory but bought one anyway. I tucked in, it was sweet covered in some sort of syrup and a marshmallow type texture, it was odd. Sarah didn't like it and truth be told neither did I but rammed it anyway. We walked for a while and found ourselves at a ginormous orange gateway (everything was orange it was like being in Holland). The next stop was Heian-jingu shrine where we had our photo taken together and moved on because as usual it was three hundred Yen to get in. The next Temple was a long walk and again up a huge hill to find it but when we got there it was good. There was a service on and you took shoe's off and could kneel down and join in, me being agile as I am couldn't bloody do it I never have been able to kneel back so my bum is touching my feet! I lasted an uncomfortable thirty seconds then went back outside. Sarah went back in for seconds and asked me to take a photograph of her, I was sly but managed to do it. The stink of incense was rife I don't like it, not one bit and it's in every Temple. We headed up yet more steps and took...guess what?... more pictures. It was a graveyard and was fairly big but the surroundings were lovely, I thought maybe I'd like to be buried here (grim thought when your having the time of your life I know) but then I thought no b***** would be arsed to climb all these steps to see me!!! Anyway, we decided to move on, heading for the Philosophers Path we stumbled across a 'family mart' and got sandwiches, crisps and chocolate. This helped us Philosophize (not as much as a pint would have done) - I found Harry Potter's Philosopher's stone but I was told I had the wrong one. At the end of this path we discovered another street lined with shops when we saw the most curious sight, a troop of merry monks, fellows with yellow clothes with multicolored pom poms on them all walking down the street. The chief of this troop was like a beardless Gandalf, he had a big stick which he kept jabbing into the ground. Then (of course we followed them) they started singing a chanty song to the shop keepers, they knew the crack and bowed back a them, the song went 'bingy bingy da da bing bing bango (like the Basement Jaxx but Buddha)'. This made me happy and dance a little, we got to the top of the hill and Sarah spotted something she wanted to eat, it was a green tea profiterole. I didn't like it but she loved it we sat and ate it on a wall outside Ginkaku-ji Temple, then after Sarah had got food all round her face we had a look up the steps to the Temple again three hundred Yen to get in the robbing gits. We turned round and headed back down the hill. There were the lads again singing to the shop keepers, they were nearly at the top now, singing 'said a boom boom boom a let me hear you say whay yo' (well that's what it sounded like). We were on the home straight one more stop at the Imperial Palace but I was sure you would have to pay to look round that, it was about a thirty minute walk and sure as egg's is egg's you had to pay to get in, result. We headed back to the hostel where Sarah didn't eat but I had a pot-noodle. We then drank three cups of tea, Sarah had a shower and then we retired to our dorm at around eight, we sat up and planned the next day. We then slept in separate beds as there were three other people in the room, I listened to my ipod for a while listening to a range of music from Weller, Eva Cassidy to the Prodigy. Just like a few days ago, we had walked miles today - out the hostel at nine thirty and not back until gone six and it really was non stop walking - we will be fit as a butchers dog when we are done.