Mikio Yomoda a volunteer Goodwill Guide kindly helped me see a number of places in Kyoto today. Without his help I wouldn't have dared enter a bus for fear of ending up I knew not where! Talking of the buses they're opposite to buses in the UK - you enter them at the back, and pay on exit! The buses like the trains in Tokyo do have announcements in English. In fact the Kyoto buses have touristy commentaries on them!

We first saw Ryoanji which my father particularly wanted me to see. Ryoanji has a very famous sand Zen garden which one could meditate at for hours. I did get a spiritual impression from it, the soul set free. I tried to ask my guide if Ryoanji was still a proper temple with monks or just a tourist attraction, never made myself well enough understood. Nearby was a place where they made stone lanterns for temples and other very un-Japanese looking statuary.

I was despondent to learn that Nijo Castle just means 2nd Street Castle - how unromantic. I also learnt that the mi component of many girl's names is the Chinese mei character for beautiful. We then went to the Silver Pavilion which has a pavilion like the Golden Pavilion save it's not covered with gold or silver. The feudal lord's wife put her foot down. The Silver Pavilion has a Zen sand garden too, but very different to Ryoanji, almost like modern art. A map of Kyoto has many swastikas on it marking the temples. The swastika has a long history even before it became associated with Buddha.

We had a slight detour to Mikio's friend cafe. Now Mikio had asked if I would be tired of Japanese food, which I took to mean him asking if I minded Japanese food again. Mikio's actual meaning was that his friend served Western style food! But it was a good visit - his friend played a tape of Japanese operatic singing she taught. She also folded origami, and forced me to take some models she had folded after learning my father paper folded. I was embarrassed by this, and by Mikio's generosity. I had only brought biscuits from the UK as presentos, how cheap. Mikio had coffee there, and got a tiny thimble of milk like Burt did. Apparently that's the way Japanese take coffee!

We then took the Philosopher's Walk, which was very beautiful with trees in blossom. At one place people were gaga over a gathering of cats, a feline knows how to twist a human around its little claw. The Walk wasn't as meditative as when the philosopher walked it, houses and shops now intrude, bicyclists hurtle along, tourists snap away as they collect another tourist spot for the record.

We strolled some way to the Kyoto Handicraft Shop, where I spent some money on presents. Certainly cheaper elsewhere but you might spend time finding a bargain. The shop did take some tax off, and I got a pair of chopsticks and postcards as a free bonus. I had asked Mikio to take me to the Heian Shrine, but I was beginning to be saturated with seeing temples and castles. So instead we headed for the Nishiki Food Street!

This is a long long covered arcade of food stalls. Not just food. An assault of colours and shapes and tastes! Mikio treated me to a sticky syrupy dessert but we had to wait until we reached a department store to find a bin to put the messy wrappers in!

In the evening I walked in the light rain to Gion Corner in the the geisha quarter. Strange mix of the rich Japanese after their traditional entertainment, and tourists after the salacious. The show at Gion Corner was aimed at tourists who gawped and snapped and laughed at how strange it was. The actual bunraku and kyogen and maiko dancing deserved better, deserved more discerning an audience. The Chinese label the Japanese as "Tang", certainly many of these arts and Buddhism in Japan came from the Tang dynasty in China.

A confession. My supper this evening was a Macdonalds. I just needed the reassurance of my own tongue. Guilty.