Had breakfast at a reasonable hour and set off by tube to Shin-Osaka station to catch a bullet train to Himeji. The bullet train lived up to expectations and we enjoyed the luxury of first class. It was more like travelling by plane than train. It was very quiet and I slept all the way. Robin listened to his iPod.

Really wet and miserable in Himeji but we were determined to see the castle so climbed up through the rain through all the winding passages an gates that got smaller in turn to make it ever harder to get through. Once inside the main building we had to take our shoes off and xhuffle onwards in slippers carrying our shoes in a carrier bag. Freezing cold inside too so quite an ordeal.

Once back on ground level we headed for the nearest cafe and a welcome bowl of steaming noodles with beef, deep-fried tofu and shredded kelp washed down with green tea. Decided not to do any more sight-seeing and got back on a bullet train to go to Kyoto for a coffee. Enjoyed nice restful hour on bullet train once the ticket inspector was happy that we were sat in the correct seats; amusing really given that the whole carriage was virtually empty.

Arrived in Kyoto and set off to find Starbucks to get a warming cup of coffee. Managed to get fairly lost in the shopping malls but eventually rediscovered Starbucks after about 50 minutes of wandering around which just goes to show how big the station's shopping area is. We then visited JR Isetan department store. Thrilled to find Snoopy in the toy department. Then bought sushi in the food hall down in the basement to take back to the hotel for our supper. Very impressed to find that the cashier equipped us with chopsticks too. Caught the bullet train and were back in Osaka in 20 minutes. Sushi was excellent, although white fish inedible.