Jan 8 - Himeji

We had a nice sleep in and left the room at 7:45am. We tried the breakfast, and it was a bit better than the free dinner from last night. After this we left the hotel at 8:30am and walk through the station and up the street to Himeji Castle.

Arriving at 9:15am, we purchased the castle and garden combo ticket and made our way through the castle. It was decidedly freezing this morning with a slight wind keeping you cold. Once in the castle the removing of shoes added to the freeze factor of the feet. We were done around 11am. From here we walked up the street to the Koko-en garden. We walked through the many sections and were done by 12.

Hubby knew of a gluten free curry place across the road, so we walked there and had lunch at 12:15. From here we walked to the Rice flour taiyaki shop,and gluten free taiyaki place where hubby and I had a custard taiyaki (kids were full). It was really nice. After this we wandered down the covered shopping streets, wandering into some shops. Kids got a capsule toys and I spent up on some chocolates at a cheap sweets shop.

We arrived back at the hotel at 3pm for a rest. At 6pm we headed for Napalese for dinner then walked through the shopping street taking photos with the floor art, then admiring the lovely light displays and lit up castle.Read more