Tofukuji

Today was a bit wet and we went to visit the local shrines and gardens in Tofukuji. It is only about five minutes walk from our hotel, but it is another world.
There was very little that was not written in Japanese, so we just wandered about looking at whatever seemed the most interesting.

We went inside one of the gardens that we hoped would have a gravel garden, and it did, but not in the style that we expected.
It was raked into a chess board shape and it didn't seem to blend with the rest of the garden.

It was completely deserted apart from in the far corner where a real geisha was sitting and being photographed. I took one shot, but then it looked like we were intruding so we moved away.

At first I didn't think that she was real and it was only when she blinked that I realised that she wasn't a statue. What a strange life she must lead.
We carried on walking around the rest of the garden, and the main feature was a high bridge walkway. We were at a disadvantage here because we did not have a map because nothing was written in English, but it was high and quite impressive.

The whole garden was full of cherry trees and it will not be long before they flower, but at the moment even I have to say that it is not at its best.