Getting ready slowly

Yesterday Ian and took our regular Wednesday morning walk in the park, Shinrin Koen. It was a Tuesday but I had to work today, Wednesday, so we went a day early. This is the last week of the semester at Tohoku University, and I have three days of classes to make up for all the Mondays that we missed because of holidays.

As we were walking down a hill between Kita Sendai Station and the park, I stepped on some sheer ice. My feet went out from under me and I ended up on my back. Luckily I was wearing my backpack and it protected me. Today, I have a little pain in my lower back and my leg, both on the right side, but neither enough to bother me. Losing all that weight and getting in shape has certainly paid off; a couple of years ago a fall like that might have put me in the hospital.

The paths in the park were full of ice so we only did one lap, rather than our customary two. However, I think that we got more of a physical workout than usual. After finishing, we stopped as always and had coffee and a donut at Mr Donuts. Finally we went over to Kita Sendai Station and bought our train tickets for the trip.
The top ticket is for the Shinkansen (Bullet train) between Sendai and Tokyo, the middle one is also for the Shinkansen but for Tokyo to Osaka, and the bottom one is the regular fare between Sendai and Osaka. We will leave Sendai at 6 a.m. on February 14th and arrive in Osaka at 10:26.

After I got home from our walk, my wife and I did some more preparation for the trip. First we arranged for an old grade school friend of my daughters' to meet us on the platform at the Shinkansen station in Osaka, Shin Osaka. She will show us the way to Nanba Station which is where the highway bus leaves from, apparently it is a bit complicated, especially at Nanba.

We also called the bus company and reserved two seats on the highway bus from Nanba to a stop which only a couple of hundred meters from the first temple. The bus leaves Nanba Station at noon and arrives just before 2:30.

Then we called and made a reservation at Temple #2, Gokurakuji, for the night of Feb 14. We will first go to Temple #1 and, after buying our Henro outfit, chant the Heart Sutra and do the other rituals, finally walking the 1.2 km to Gokurakuji.

We then called Temple #7, Juurakuji, to make a reservation, but it will be closed that night. The temple will be open but they are not accepting over night guests. So we called Temple #6, Anrakuji, and made a reservation there. When we stop at Anrakuji to chant the sutra, we will also checkin and leave our backpacks. Then after the rituals, we will then walk the 1.0 km to Juurakuji, and do the ceremonies there, returning to Anrakuji for the evening. On the following morning we will leave early and go directly to Temple #8, hopefully arriving just before 9 a.m.