The biggest shrine...

The next day Hide came and picked me up after he had done his morning temple duties, and we headed off to Isejingu. The biggest shrine in all of Japan.
We picked up breakfast on the way at a weird little cafe place. The set breakfast is called "morning" and varies depending where you go, but here it was a big piece of toast, banana, boiled egg and iced coffee or tea. It was quite a long way from the temple village and we travelled by car (this is a new thing for me in Japan!)...they have great motorways, in fact at one stage there was a road above and below us! crazy!
But most of the highways are toll roads so you have to go through toll booths at different points.
It was a beautiful drive though, lots of trees on every side.

Ise shrine is amazing - the whole area has old style shops and streets selling all kinds of traditional goods.

The shrine itself is a number of different buildings including some really old preserved parts which have the old thatched roofs and everything. The gardens are lush and green with the beautifully manicured trees, and the walk around the shrine grounds is really peaceful (in spite of the crowds and tours) with trees everywhere and bordering on a river.

You can feel the serenity.

Ise Shrine

Afterwards we had 'kakigoori kyuukei' (=icecream break). Kakigoori is one of my favourite summer things. Shaved ice with syrup. We have them in NZ too, but in Japan its better. And here at Ise shrine, they have famous kakigoori. You have to try it. It's cultural.
This one is with green tea flavour - and inside is anko (red sweet bean paste) and mochi (rice cake). And it's huge! We only just finished one between us!