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and the dishes were very interesting pieces of pottery, interesting
and lovely pieces. At the end the lady rought two funny?
looking things, a combination of small china pot + spittoon
combined, or what might be called a spittoon with a handle
and set into the open part was a cup of hot water. She
demonstrated what they were for but somehow the meal
was too good to spoil with a mouthful of hot water, so
when she went out we poured a little water into the part
with hande and pretended we had used it. No doubt it
is an excellent custom. However it is hard to get used to it
all, especially tooth picks, though everyone does it very nicely.
When we paid the bill the lady had been so awfully nice
about showing + explaining things and all that Pete gave her
a little extra, but she refused to take it and would only
keep 10% of the total bill. They couldn't have been
nicer and there was much bowing when we went out.

After that we walked on the Gei?za. Saw what I though
were squids but are really snakes, ground into powder. There
were men with the most adorable miniature trees, no higher
than four or five inches, but with plum blossoms blooming.
How they ever do it I don't know. The same kind of m iniature
cactus that one sees in Boston, the cactus about one inch high but
at home it is just the leaves you bury, but here the tiniest cactus has
a cunning little pottery pot and always a bud or blossom. Lovely
ones too, yellow red pink, all colors. I could hardly believe they
were real. We saw an old man who had little tame birds,
and in spite of the noise and confusion of people horns
trolley cars and all they seemed very well behaved. Hopped
onto his finger, stood on top of a tennis ball that rolled
around and stayed on branches of miniature trees. He also had
an owl that did whatever the man wanted it too. None of them
were in cages. They almost seemed hypnotized they acted
so well.