Simply beautiful.

From 12-Mar-10

Welcome to the Kyoto portion of our journey.



I spent a good portion of the trip back absently wondering about how I was going to describe my visit to Kyoto.

I still haven't found the perfect adjective, but I'm just gonna go with "amazing." It's a simple word, and I know that after a while, words become cheap -- but it's true. There is nothing like Kyoto. I thought Nagoya went from urban to rural from one street to the next, but Kyoto? Kyoto defines this juxtaposition. You literally go down a main city street and end up in a geisha district, alleys lined with lanterns and teahouses. You go back up the street and it's city buses and shopping malls. It's just... amazing.

We arrived in Kyoto mid-morning on Friday, had to put our stuff in a coin locker (let us never speak of the morning spent lugging around that overnight bag again) and hit the town. We used a Japanese bus system for the first time -- and let me tell you: like sardines in a can. Definitely not for people who don't like close quarters, especially from Kyoto station. However, leery though I was of the apparent lack of gaijin-friendliness, it was not that bad. Fortunately, LOTS of people got off at certain stops, so buses wait for a long time at each major stop. (In Japan, you enter the bus from the back, and pay your fare as you exit out the front -- and no, the back door does not open, so even if you have day passes like we did, you can't take a short cut.) Also, we were on a tourist-friendly bus system, so major sites were also announced in English.

We went to Ga... um, Gazo... drat, I've forgotten the name! I'm sure someone else reading this knows what I mean. The area with all the curio shops where you can walk around in kimono and there's a giant Buddha. That place! It was awesome! I bought many souvenirs!

We stayed at the Budget Inn, and they gave us a Japanese apartment. We had a bathroom (with bathroom slippers!) a Japanese bath (not as narrow, but quite deep) and a tatami bedroom! Totally worth the $40 it cost us.

Sunday, we met Adiva's friend Monica, a Norwegian exchange student staying in Akita, but who was in Kyoto on spring break. Monica brought along two of her friends, Reni and Brittany. So we became a fabulous five, this troupe of gaijin wandering the streets. Together, we went to Kinkaku-ji, and after that, we went on the geisha walking lecture, which was very interesting -- and given by a Canadian (REPRESENT!)

We just got home, and are totally dead tired. Now, bedtime. Tomorrow, bright and early again to meet Jen. Whew!

You can see pictures from Friday and Saturday here and here. : )