My feet are killing me!! I’m wearing the same comfortable Nikes I wear to work with arch supports, but after getting back to the apartment tonight I had to pop two water blisters on my toes. Too many steps and stairs but like a lemming I’ll start again tomorrow morning.

We were at one of the main temples enjoying the view when an elderly Japanese gentleman (maybe five years older) approached us and struck up a conversation. He spoke English quite well. Well, his two sons live in Austin Texas. He lamented his woes that his grandsons can’t speak a lick of Japanese.He is from Yokohama and was visiting the temple with one son and two grandsons who were visiting from Tx. He was a really interesting guy, Masabumi Tanabe. He lives on a large estate with extensive gardens. The estate has been in the family for over 300 years. We now have a standing invitation to visit, inc. lodging. He currently owns a business called Ascot Gardens Ltd. He says he writes and publishes travel books for Japanese tourists visiting Europe. He gave me his card.

After talking for about 15 minutes of chatting his two high school aged grandsons joined us. Grandpa told them we were from California. The oldest grandson said they lived in Cali before moving to Austin. They lived in a town near San Francisco called Danville. World gets smaller every day. Will have to maintain E-mail communication with Masabumi.

All in all another fun day. It is now 6PM. Time for a quick nap before dinner.