Last vacation post

Last night we went to the Gion district in Kyoto, which is where the really old buildings are and where the Geisha hang out and the gentelmaens clubs are.  We wandered around taking pictures,

and turning down offers to play Pachinko and eat at every establishment we passed by.

The restaurants below were enticing as they were right on the river and it was really warm out.

I'm pretty sure this is the opera house which still shows popular plays such as Chorus Line, Lion King etc.

For dinner, our concierge had recommended a shabu-shabu place, which is  a restuarant where you cook your own food in the pot in the center of the table.  We had thin slices of beef, lots of veggies, and some noodles.  You use chopsticks to wave it around in the broth, then dip it in a sauce and eat it. It was good, but I've had better in Little Tokyo in L.A.

Today we took the bullet train to Hiroshima, which Ted and I had been to before.  It is an amazing place, with a wonderful museum which does it's best to promote peace and nuclear disarrmament. The boys were sobered  by this excursion,which made us grateful we had taken the time to go there.
Tomorrow we head home, flying to Seoul first, then on to the U.S, arrivng a few hours before we leave!