It's been a couple of years since I've eaten icecream and while I don't think about it regularly it is something I miss now and again.  I recently read that a reasonably good icecream substitute can be made from banana, just banana, and I have to say I was fairly sceptical.  Still I had over ripening bananas and a little time this morning so I gave it a try and it's really good.  Not lactose intolerant substitute good, the sort of good that those with a choice liked it.

Not surprisingly with only banana as an ingredient it tastes like a banana but the texture is definitely icecream, this is definitely something I can work.  I've since read of other additions like nutella, cocoa, or peanut butter, I might even try some of my much loved ginger rum essence from the Sunshine Coast Ginger factory but for now I'm quite happy with banana.

Buddha' birthday celebrations in Brisbane are organised by the Chung Tian Temple and held at Southbank, it has been running for 16 years now and organisers expected up to 200,000 visitors this year which was helped along by the warm sunny weekend.  This isn't just a festival for Buddhists, it's a great day out with something for everyone. 

The sun was shining, clear blue sky and 25 degrees out, it might be coming to the end of autumn but it is still great beach weather in southeast Queensland.

We headed out quite early and stopped in at the Eumundi markets first for a cuppa and slice of banana bread (coffee and a lime and coconut cake for DH), we sat on the veranda at the Fig Tree Cafe and could watch the snake eduction people let their jungle carpet python play while the tourists freaked out, quite funny.  While the people watching from there is great, the coffee and tea are terrible so must remember to find another cafe to try next time.

I didn't buy much, just 3 bromilads for under the palm trees in the back garden, I even forgot to get fresh roast macadamias which are an essential purchase there. 

This Body Art Festival was on next to the markets so we watched models getting painted for a while, really we were too early, you would have wanted to go after lunch to really see how they were going to turn out.  The contestants get 5 hour to paint in two categories, brush work and air brush, both very talented but I prefer the detail and definition of the brush.

Then on to relax at the beach, Mooloolaba is great at this time of year, a fair few people in the zone between the flags but outside that heaps of spare white sand.  Also lots of tree'd park areas to sit out with the kindle.  Feeling very relaxed.

On the 15th April at Nagahama, about 40 minutes out of Kyoto on eastern side of lake Biwa is an annual festival at the Nagahama Hachiman Shrine.  It is a float festival where Kabuki theatre is played out by the local boys aged 5 to 12, Kabuki is only acted by men (boys) even the female roles and the floats that the festival is performed on are very ornate with detailed carving, tapestry and gold leaf work.

The shrines history goes back over 1000 years and the festival is linked to Hideyoshi who presented the gold dust to the people of the castle town which was used to create the 12 festival floats.

Nagahama is a really pretty town and famous for its glass work, we wandered through the Kurokabe square looking in the small shops and temples and had lunch here, a menu that included the hotpot style meals that seemed quite popular in the local restaurants.  Then we wandered over to the castle, cherry blossoms and lake Biwa.  The breeze off the lake was cold but everyone was having fun at their sakura parties, partiularly the little children and the teenagers who were singing under the trees.

We spent a bit of time on the train yesterday and headed north to Kanazawa on the Thunderbird limited express, again fabulous comfortable travel thanks to our green JR pass.

First stop is the Higashi geisha district in the north east of the city, unlike the areas in Kyoto there are a couple of old Ochaya in this area open as tea houses and one as a museum where you look though.  We went through the Shiga teahouse which has been beautifully maintained.and preserved with many antiques associated with the geisha traditions on display. 

Next  stop was Kenrokuen gardens noted as one of Japans top three gardens and it is definitely beautiful.  An interesting feature this year due to the long cold winter is the presence of Ume (plum blossoms) and Sakura (cherry blossoms) together in the garden, normally the Ume are well and truly done by now but we have seen some good examples in Kyoto and today in Kanazawa. 

Kanazawa castle is next to the gardens, it was founded in 1583 but is now a large authentic replica made with traditional methods, the oldest remaining part is the Ishikawa gate which dates back to 1788, the castle grounds have some great cherry trees which have just passed their best but were still looking really good.

Walking west after the castle we found and wandered through Omiya Jinja Shrine, one of the things I like best about walking in Japan is the things that you just find, this had a lovely old garden with a big pond that you could walk around on a path within the pond.

Headed back to the train we found Omi-Cho market, a local fresh produce market.  There are also lots of smaller places to eat within it and being on the northern coast there was a lot of seafood, every type of crab seems to be the specialty here but there was a good range of fish and other seafood too.  We got a couple of amazing Obento boxes of fresh seafood sushi for on the Shinkansen on the way home tonight.

After checking out of the Sheraton in Hiroshima we caught the bullet train back to Kyoto and the Citadines Apartment, spotting that the blossoms looked close to full bloom we dropped the bags and headed out around Kyoto for the rest of the day.  

Kiyomizudera is a stunning temple on the hills to the east, we went here in the midde of the storm for the dragon performance last week and there were almost no blossoms to be seen (maybe that was the wind, hail and brolly's blowing inside out to blame) anyway today it was in its prime so we spent a while wandering around here.

The weather was stunning and everything looks better in sunshine, I even managed to get a bit of sunburn .. oops.  Next we wandered down through Higashiyama geisha district , the Yasaka Pagoda and Ryozen Kannon temple then back via Shijo and a relaxing cuppa.

The statue of Kannon Bodhisattva (Avolokiteshvra) was sculpted by Hirosuke Ishikawa and unveiled in 1955, it is striking against a backdrop of forest and cherry blossom and is a memorial to the world's unknown soldiers lost in WWII.

Tomorrow we head off to Kanazawa on the northern coast for the day, a long train trip each way but should be worth it to see one of Japans top three gardens

I was really looking forward to going to Miyajima Island today, it is about a 30 minute train trip and 10 minutes on the JR ferry out of Hiroshima, we spent out 20th wedding anniversary here last year so it has some good memories too.  The photos weren't so good this time as the spring weather was hazy compared to the clear blue winter skys but the scenery, fresh air, cherry blossom and local oysters.

The floating tori is one of the most familiar scenic views of Japan and itsukushima shine appears to float on the water at high tide.

We didn't go up Mt Misen last trip so we did this time, up on the cable cars and then walking up the hill, quite a climb to the Reikado hall to the eternal flame.  It is believed the fire in this temple has been lit since 806AD when Daishi (Kukai) practiced here.  The flame here is the source of the eternal flame of peace in the Hiroshima peace park.  On a clear day the views out over the islands of the Soto inland sea would be amazing, today with the mist had a more moody feel.

Onto the bullet train and off the Hiroshima this morning, while unloading from the taxi this wasn't what I expected to see at the back entrance to Kyoto station .... a couple of real Maiko and Geisha waiting for the lift.

Two hours later after an extremely comfortable ride in the green cars we arrived and checked into the Sheraton near the station then off to Shukkeien Garden which is a stunning circular garden designed originally in 1620 by Ueda Soko for Daimyo Asanu Nagaakira and reopened in the original design in 1951 after the atomic bomb. The garden is beautiful and the blossom in full bloom today.

Next stop was the Hiroshima castle, this was one of the few that survived the Meiji Restoration where many feudal castles were torn down, unfortunately it didn't survive 6/8/1945.  Many of the ruined footings remain and a good wooden replica of the black crow castle turret has been rebuilt.

The final stop was the A-bomb dome and the peace park, also looking were pretty in spring blossom.