Armed with our bus pass we set off to visit the "ninja" temple. Ostensibly a temple but in reality a heavily defended watchtower for the castle we were to visit later on in the morning. It had a variety of secret passages,murder holes and cunning defensive tricks to deter attackers. In addition it had 7 levels within 3 floors to further confuse the enemy. Next was Kanawaza castle that has been completely rebuilt using the original plans and ancient techniques 15 years ago. It was never overrun but seemed to burn down a lot and then be rebuilt. Across the road are the Kenrocken gardens,often described as one of the top 3 in the world. We were fortunate that the plum blossom was just coming out but in 3 weeks time the cherry blossom would be out so no room to move then.
After a bowl of noodles for lunch we visited the 21st century museum which was fun . Two pieces stood out for us: Anish Kapoor's L'Origine du monde and Leandro Erlich's Swimming Pool.Back on the bus to the Geisha quarter,more old houses but the Gold Store had a gold leaf plaster walled room that shone in the afternoon sun of course and then across town to the Samurai quarter where apart from more old houses an original samurai house and garden entranced us. But the best was to come,rather than go to Starbucks we found a small local coffee shop where the owner made the coffee in a jug and put on an Eric Clapton vinyl album on his English deck he proudly told us. A great find.
For dinner we went to a local fast food joint,GoGoCurry to sample the speciality. A pork escalope on a bed of rice with a "curry" sauce,cabbage and pickled radish. With a beer it was surprisingly tasty. There's even a branch in New York!