Day 11- Saturday, July 2nd

Today I went to Nijo Castle. It was nice and they had audio tours for $6 CAD. The castle was full of history about the Shogun and old paintings but you can not take any pictures inside the castle. They do have a book about the castle for about $8 CAD. The Castle itself can be viewed in 1-2 hours. Also you can not enter the castle after 4:00pm as they stop selling tickets at this time. The other castle on the property is open in March to the public. This site is important to visit as it gives a better idea of what the Shoguns life was like and the power and art of the Edo era. Later we traveled to Shizuoka for two hours on the Shinkansen. The city of Shizuoka does not have much to do; they have a few malls and that is about it. However there are a lot of Onsens  in this area that are nice to visit and relax at. The hotel we stayed at was nice with AC, T.V, fridge, 3 beds 2 double and one single, big t.v area with a couch, bathrobes, slippers and a small bathroom. The hotel is mostly for businessmen as they have hard hats in the closet and a men only bath. We went out for dinner with friends. We went to a Yaki restaurant and had all kinds of Yaki(fried food) . It was delicious. Then we went to a train mall with different levels and stores side by side like vendors.