Talking a lot with a couple from USA

Yes! I talked a lot with a couple from USA. I was a guide for them on May 12th and 13th. At first, I was supposed to be a one-day guide, but one of us was not able to come due to her health problem. It was hard for me, but I really enjoyed the tour with them!

I planned to visit the western part on the first day, and the eastern part on the second day. After visiting Golden pavillion, we had OKONOMIYAKI for lunch. At that restaurant, we had to make OKONOMIYAKI by ourselves.OKONOMIYAKI is very popular meal for the people living in Kansai district. As for me, I sometimes make it at home with a portable BBQ pan on the table. Along with OKONOMIYAKI, we fry/grill sausages,beef, chicken, vegetables and some other foods which can be cooked on it.

They were interested in the meal. As I heard that they were going to visit Hiroshima following Kyoto, I talked about Hiroshima style OKONOMIYAKI. Of course, Kansai people are really fond of Kansai style. However, one of my friends who has lived in Hiroshima said Hiroshima's is really as good as Kansai's or it could beat Kansai's...

The other day, I got an e-mail from them and knew that they had Hiroshima style OKONOMIYAKI twice. They are going to make one at home, too. That's nice, isn't it?

The next day, when we were at the gate of Kiyomizu temple, some junior high school students spoke to them. The school boys and girls had to inteview foreign tourists in English, and had to get their autographs(?) as they were told to by their teacher.
One of us said "Now, we are celebrities." However, when we got out of the temple, we found the students spoke to some other tourists and tried to have their autograph.
Again he said, "Now we are no longer cerelbrities.." (^^;

After visiting Kiyomizu temple, they got 4 Yukatas for souvenirs to their daughters at one of the shops along Sanneizaka.
One more thing, she was looking for a bookmarker for a souvenir. I tried to find one, but somehow, I could not find it.

Fortunately, I found one at the exit of Silver Pavillion. I was happy to find all they wanted.
They had the tickets of Kamogawa Odori, or Geisha dance show.



So, I said good-by to them a little earlier so that they could have a little rest before the show.

I had two days with them, and talked about various topics, which was a lot of fun to me, too.

the photo
irises in Heian Shrine





The tour
1st day
Fushimi Inari shrine, Golden Pavillion, Ryoanji rock garden, Nijo castle, Nishiki Food market
2nd day
Kiyomizu temple, Nineizaka Sanneizaka, Yasaka shrine, Heian shrine, Silver Pavillion