Shinkansen

Mom and I decided to go to Kyoto on Friday morning. I woke up bright and early at 4 am in order to catch the train. I ate a quick breakfast and headed down to the station. The first train from Shimotakaido is at 4:40am headed towards Shinjuku. I arrived a little after 5 (my quickest trip ever.) Mom was waiting for me and we headed out immediately when I arrived. By the time we got to the Shinkansen platform, our train was getting ready to leave. I lamented in the fact that I could not buy my Friday Famitsu as the magazine stands were not yet open.

The train ride was beautiful but we had to sit in the middle two seats. It sucked for the middle part because we could not sit by the window and look out. All well.

When we arrived in Kyoto the first thing I noticed was the rain. It was raining hard and was not about to stop anytime soon. Noticing this I made a crucial error that quickly hampered our first day adventures. Instead of finding the maps and guidebooks to Kyoto, we set out in search of cheap umbrellas. We found the 100 yen shop and picked two up. Next we hopped on a bus towards Ginkaku-ji (Silver Pavilion.)

The gardens around the pavilion were absolutely gorgeous. I took loads of pictures (which I have been failing to upload) and enjoyed every minute of it. The temple itself looked very run down and in need of repair. It was never actually plated in silver for some reason, so it is just a big temple sitting in the middle of a garden. A little ways up the mountain would have shown a great view of Kyoto, but again the rain prevented that.

After the temple I had no idea where to go. Without a map, we set off down the Philosopher's Trail. We found a cool wind chime shop among others. We only made it halfway down the trail before turning down towards the main street in search of food. The food shops never came.

We did manage to find a map explaining how to get to various places around Kyoto. Following this, we hopped on a bus that was supposed to go to the Imperial Palace. After about half on hour on the bus, we arrived at kinkaku-ji (Gold Pavilion). I don't know where the palace got off to, but I decided that it was time to get off the bus. The gold pavilion itself was completely destroyed after the war and re-built with every detail perfectly intact. The pavilion was also completely covered in a gold layer (only the top floor was covered in gold before) which fulfilled the original intentions of the builder. The temple itself was beautiful, but the surrounding area had something to be desired. The paths all revolved around the main temple. During our time here, some of the locals approached me and we talked for a while.

Back at the bus stop I asked a couple if there were any other temples or things around the area. They said there was not, so we hopped a bus back to the train station. I realize that I really hate buses. They are never on time and take forever to get anywhere.

First of all at the train station I got a map of Kyoto, the train routes, and the bus routes. I then located the Ryokan (hotel) that I reserved a room at and we headed out. The Ryokan was owned by an old man and only had a couple of rooms. It was dirt cheap, provided a nice 9 tatami mat room, yukata's, futons, and all the amenities of home. We were finally able to drop off all our stuff and go out for a nice dinner.

It was still raining. I wanted to eat Yaki-niku or some type of Shabu Shabu, but not being able to find any places nearby, settled for Okonomiyaki and Yaki-soba. The place I selected was a little hole in the wall shop on the 3rd floor of a random building. The owner was really nice. Mom liked all of the food.

Back at our room, I planned out a route for the next day in Kyoto and proceeded to crash hard on the futon. I don't remember the futon being that uncomfortable before... But at least I slept until almost 8am. We checked out and hit up a convenience store for breakfast. Yay for melon bread and milk!

This day was much much better than the last. I was beginning to get pissed off at Kyoto for being so inconvinient, but Saturday totally made up for it. The rain stopped and we were able to walk all around Kyoto. We visited some nice temples right nearby the Ryokan before heading up to Nijo to see the palace. We took a train this time which was much faster than the bus. At Nijo we got to look outside at the moat and walls, but that was about it. The place was closed for new years already and would not let anybody inside. We then walked a kilometer or so to the Imperial palace and found out that it was closed as well. However, we were still able to visit the gardens and walk up and down various tree lined paths. That in itself was worth going to see. Not wanting to go far for food, I settled on a Thai buffet right near the subway entrance. The food was alright, but I have had better.

Back at the train station we met up with Steve, who was there with his host family for New Years. I wanted to go to Hiroshima and visit the museum, but found out that it was also closed. I decided that it would be best to return to Tokyo and find things to do there. We bought Shinkansen tickets back.

Steve being the man that he is, showed us around the part of Kyoto that he knows. We took a taxi to Kiyomizu Temple and walked around that area. Kiyomizu was absolutely gourgeous albiet the number of people there was a little disturbing. It would be amazing if it were not so crowded. Right outside of the temple there were 3 girls walking in front of us wearing the full on kimono attire. Steve started up conversation with them which lead us to taking pictures together. We wandered through the streets picking up various food items such as Niku-man and miso flavored dango. Steve showed us the main shopping district of Gion, the river with a path through the middle, and led us back to the station. It was great to have a friend who knew the area.

Steve hopped on a train to Osaka and we stayed around until our train departed. We explored the station and found tons of little food shops around. I made mom try some taco-yaki (octopus) but she did not seem too thrilled. Right before we headed back to Tokyo, I finally bought my issue of Famitsu. I read it most of the way back and then proceeded to sleep the rest of the way. I made it home on the last train and immediately passed out in my own room

Today I slept in until 10 or so maybe later. I did not make it out to Baba until around 2pm. First of all we went to Yasubee to get some lunch. I then took mom to Ueno park, where we enjoyed some Yaki-panda (fried panda) and some nice sights. All of the museums and the zoo were closed for New Years once again. I then took her to the shopping district of Ueno. It was really congested with people trying to buy fish and crab at dirt cheap prices.

I also took her to Harajuku where we had crepes and oogled at the girls in gothic clothing. We walked down Takeshita-dori and then down to Shibuya. I showed her the biggest pedestrian crossing in the world and then the Hachika (dog statue). We walked around a bit then headed to Shinjuku. There I showed her pretty much everything I knew in a short tour. Kabuki-cho, yakitori-dori, Takashiyama, Kinokuniya, etc. It was a lot of fun.

Back at Baba she got to experience the joys of Japanese fast food, Yoshinoya. Yay for Gyudon!