Japan Thirteen

Good evening!

Today we went into central Kyoto and walked to Toji Temple where they hold a massive market on the 21st of each month.

When I say massive… I mean it. Around 1000 stalls!!! It bewilderingly big!

There are a lot of antique stalls with ceramics and heaps of second hand kimonos and fabric.

Lots of wonderful plants.

They had a lot of new ceramic stalls, craft stalls, jewellry and clothes.

Heaps of food stalls of course.

I set Maureen loose and by the time I found her again she needed a loan!!!

Last purchase of the day, a swish new coat which she plans to wear at markets!

I thought I had covered most of the area, then found two new areas to investigate!

Over a small pond.

At this point a stall holder had come running up to me. I’d just bought a couple of lovely hand woven items from her. She was waving about a couple of hundred yen… I finally sorted out what she was saying. Apparently she had short changed me by accident (about two bucks) and was SO embarrassed and apologetic. I think I reassured her enough that I wasn’t upset … I hadn’t noticed. On the whole Japanese people are painstakingly honest so I never double check. She was so sweet!

I found Maureen again at a fountain where we had planned to meet when we were done. She had been there a short while and the local ladies kept coming up to chat and feed her sweets!!

I bought the above iron teapot in Osaka the other day… I’ve always wanted one!

Today I found two more!! Much older ones! One is tiny and so cute!

The last thing I bought was some market food which we brought home with us so we could collapse in comfort and eat up and generally have a quiet afternoon!

And then we did Show And Tell with all our new treasures and lament about future packing problems!

Xxx.