Day 8 A Rainy Day in Nikko

Several phone calls were made this morning to see who wanted to go to Nikko. We wanted to catch the 10:00 train so since it was that early some chose not to go. Rough night I think for some LOL Deb, Rick, Belinda and Jim decided to go with us and enjoy the day. : -) Entire group went to the train station and bought a one way ticket to Nikko. Together we decided when we were ready to come home we would just purchase another ticket.

The train ride was about 40 minutes we all talked among each other and enjoyed our time together. When we arrived at Nikko we still had a ways to go to find the temples and Shrines, but there was lots of shops on the way : -) By the time we got to the end of the street it was lunch time. Found a nice place to eat which was located on the 2nd floor of the building, inside was also a gift shop on the first floor.

We all ordered some food and Jim decided to order breakfast.  Boy it looked pretty good, The rest of us ordered gyoza.  Marlon and I decided to just split an order of the gyoza and order some ramen noodle soup also, which was great,  The ramen soup had a dollop of red hot paste on top YUM YUM I am still struggling a little to eat soup with chop sticks and not splash the broth on me >LOL>

When we walked out of the restaurant it was raining hard enough now to need an umbrella. Geesh it rained the rest of the time we spent at the shrines and temples.  We had to use an umbrella thank goodness we each had one. It was very interesting visiting the shrines and temples and watching all the Japanese people go into the temples take their shoes off and pray.   It seems like it would be hard to have so many Buddhas to pray to. There is a different Buddha for everything? Health, Money, long life, etc. I'm still learning the culture and history and am having a great time. Again this is a trip of a life time. The main temple area of Nikko is called the Nikko Toshogu Shrine that houses, amongst other things, the Sleeping Cat of Nemuri-niko, the 3 sacred repositories of San Jinko, the roaring dragon of Yakushi-do and my favourite, Shinkyu-sha, the stable of the Three Monkeys; Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil, See No Evil..

Once we were done visiting the shrines we headed back to the train station. Its a long walk back and on the way we stopped at several shops. I loved the shop that sold bowls and spoons and trays etc out of wood. How awesome, I didn't buy any but Deb bought a bowl and spoon for $10 great buy!!! Now I wished I would have bought a set, I'm sure they have these shops other places besides Nikko.
On the walk back to the train station we met 3 girls dressed in traditional clothes Kimono's and their sandals .  I wish I had a set of these clothes even if they were used. I Need to buy a pair of their socks love them........

We are now on the train and headed back to Utsunomiya.  The trains are precise on timing they run to the second, if the timetable says 10:21 it'll leave at 10:21, it doesn't matter how far it's come or what the weathers like, it'll be there, guaranteed. If you're running a couple of minutes late and you think you might make it, don't even bother running, it's gone pal.  I am tired and have boarded the train, before I know it I leaned over on Marlon and fell asleep. When we arrived at Utsunomiya the first stop for me was to find a cup of coffee. The rest of the gang followed us in but did not want any coffee so they decided to go shop for dinner at the grocery store. We departed at the point and went our separate ways.

Marlon and I took our coffee and sat in the lobby and talked with people that were coming and going. Got to see Greg and his wife who recently got married. He met her when he lived in Japan for 2 years. There wedding pictures were beautiful. They had them taken in the traditional Japanese dress.......BEAUTIFUL

Ate dinner at a place where you grill your food in the center of the table. The grill had charcoal in it which I'm sure will make the food taste even better. We ordered meat and vegetables to cook for 3~4 people and had no problem eating it. Marlon done all the grilling : -) Food was good but too expensive and not enough food now I know how they stay so SMALL... : -) We both enjoyed the quiet time to ourselves : -)

Back to the hotel time to kickback and relax........The main temple area of Nikko is called the Nikko Toshogu Shrine that houses, amongst other things, the Sleeping Cat of Nemuri-niko, the 3 sacred repositories of San Jinko, the roaring dragon of Yakushi-do and my favourite, Shinkyu-sha, the stable of the Three Monkeys; Hear No

Togushu Temple
Nikko