Kanazawa Day two

Breakfast was a buffet feast on the top floor overlooking the city and palace gardens. We waddled out and it was a good thing we had a walking day. We started at the Shogun's castle garden one of the three best gardens in Japan. We have noticed the pines have had large centre posts with big ropes tied to them, often not very attractively. In this garden they are so symmetrical they create a beauty of their own. They tie up the branches in the fall so they won't be broken by the snow and then take them down in the spring. Huge amount of work. There were also gardeners in the water sweeping clean the rocks under water and picking out the falling leaves. 

We walked around the walls of the palace to the fish market and had a sushi lunch at a diner type bar with a conveyor belt for food and underneath one for dishes . It was the best, freshest sushi ever.  We were the only westerners.

We were on our own after that. Liza and I went exploring and found the Noh museum. Part of the experience was that the staff would dress us up in costumes and masks to give us a feel of how the actors fell and can see to move around. Very much fun. Then went to Museum of Contemporary Art to see installations from artists from around the world. Took a long time to see it all and we came out with sore backs and feet. Met up with Ruth and Alger and took a break in a lovely tea shop over looking the gallery garden. We walked back in the dark, Christmas lights and decorations up everywhere. To finish off the evening we had a wonderful French dinner at the top of the hotel. Service was slow and our talk long making for a great evening.