Hiking in Kamakura; vending machines; crepes and birds

Today was gorgeous - it started off very freezing - and more on the accommodation tomorrow (yes there is some weird logic that will evolve on that!). But needless to say Liv slept in her onesie and we all had a hot water bottle. Rob and the 4 boys slept with a south Korean girl. Yep - that's for tomorrow's blog.

We went to the beach this morning from which you could see Mt Fuji. We passed a bucket of frozen water on the walk to the beach - and yet there were people windsurfing. Lucy was looking for drift wood - but there wasn't much to look for. We then with a map set off for the shrines and the Big Buddha. My pedometer tells me we walked about c12kms up some steep terrain - but very striking.
Before we got there we went to a gorgeous garden and saw Peonies and kites (we think). The flowers had their own straw houses and umbrellas to keep the alive in the cold. It was gorgeous. The kids loved the photographing and for Rob it was worth carrying his huge lens - i will post a kingfisher shot tomorrow!

The hike had some lovely hills in it -

For those wondering about vending machine experiences (Rob M in particular): the kids have now had grape fanta, strawberry cream fanta, Lucy and I both had hot tinned coffee today - not bad; and then Paddy insisted on an icecream from a vending machine - and so the kids all had icecreams.

The kids also had a crepe, or 2 ....

Talking of food - a special Japanese gift for whoever guesses what this is: as a PS it was ordered at the instance of Cam, Eaten by Rob, and tried by everyone but Paddy and me.

And while I remember - here are today's pooches:


So to end off the day -

as a PS - Paddy should have done drama - and yes we have a Totaro to add to the luggage ...