Another busy day, this time assisted by a 500 yen jump-on-jump-off bus pass. Pretty good value compared to the open top buses of Europe.

First stop was the Higashi Chaya district, an old Geisha House area. We toured Shima Geisha House and checked out a gold leaf factory. Kanazawa produces 99% of Japan’s gold leaf. Carol and I got to eat some gold leaf (the kids declined) and had gold leaf tea.

Next stop was Kanazawa Castle, rebuilt in the 20^th century from 18^th century plans. These wooden Japanese buildings don’t cope well with fire or lightning strikes.

Across the road from the castle was Kenroku-en Garden, one of the top 3 gardens in Japan. Wow. The wander through the garden was so peaceful, and so many photo opportunities. I had an apprentice photographer today. Lach had my phone camera and took some great shots. Actually, he took the majority of today’s photos.

Continuing on, we visited the Naga-machi Buke Yashiki district, an old Samurai district. We toured Nomura-ke, a samurai house. The house was similar to others we have seen, but the garden was unbelievable. So many features packed into a tiny area.

Last stop for the day was the Omi-cho market area, where we bought some fresh fruit (we haven’t seen much fresh fruit) and looked around at the fish, seafood and seaweed markets stalls.