Tokyo August 23

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I woke up with a slight hangover, but managed to make it to Kita-Kamakura in time to meet the group. We toured the first of many stunning shrines of the day. Everywhere we turned was another moss-covered treasure. We had a group lunch at a traditional Chinese resturant that overlooked a koi pond and the ocean. We were served over ten courses in a three hour period. Each course was more succulant than the next, finally ending with an almond cherry pudding. We then toured the Great Buddha shrine with was built in 1250. I can't even describe how awe inducing it was. We toured a shrine then dedicated to children who had passed on and another hidden in a stream filled cave with statues that climbed up to the ceiling. Just as dusk was approaching a pair of cranes flew into the trees above us. We stopped at a bakery before headed back to the guest room exhausted.

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