Another 3 Day Weekend/Trip to Kyoto

This weekend we decided to go to Kyoto. This sounds easy, but it's actually quite involved. We took the Shinkansen (after hearing many stories about the dreaded Overnight Bus), and managed to get there quite early on Wednesday (about 1pm). This took some work (mainly in getting Toby up ;)) but we arrived at the guest house without much trouble. After depositing our bags we went for a walk on the banks (i.e. cement walls) of the Kamogawa River, which is apparently one of the best places for Sakura (cherry blossom) viewing in Kyoto. Here is a picture so you can get the idea:



After that we took a train into Kyoto Station to see the sights. A really kewl one is Kyoto Tower:



But Kyoto Station is, unfortunately, a bit like Tokyo Station. In other words, there are some neat things to see, but not much to do. So we went over to Shijo Dori on our way to Gion Shirakawa. Shijo is a really happening place, more like Ginza. Lots of stores, people, lights... We got to see a lot more of it than we'd actually intended on our way to Gion, because someone decided that there should be two stations on two entirely different lines both named "Shijo". Anyway, we got to Gion eventually, and it was definitely worth it: a small path with a cherry-tree-lined river to the side; and on the other side of the river, old-fashioned wooden restaurants and tearooms, complete with floor-to-ceiling windows, geisha, and (no doubt) pricetags fit only for nightmares.



We also walked through Yasaka Shrine (that we would again visit the next day), and saw all the lanterns lit up, which was pretty. It was also pretty much the end of Day 1.



Day 2 was much more lengthy and involved. We first moved our stuff from our first night's hostel to the second, which is closer to Kyoto Station (JHoppers). It was really kewl, especially, as I later found out, because I could connect to wireless internet for free on my laptop. Hee hee ;).

We started off by visiting the Kyoto Imperial Palace. It is only opened to everyone for four days each year, and we just happened to be there during the four days. Luckily the weather was fantastic and we got some great pictures of the buildings and the garden inside. Here is the main entrance gate:



And the throne room:



And lastly, the garden:



After visiting the palace, we ate lunch on the palace grounds. I was the only white tourist in there! There were plenty of Japanese tourists, and we did see one white guy come in, check it out, and then leave. Too bad, the food was excellent and not expensive at all.

Having some food gave us the energy to set out on our (reportedly) six hour walk - a tour of some of the more famous shrines and temples in Kyoto. The first leg of our trip took us to Kiyomizu Temple. It's up on a mountain, so the view was beautiful. In some of the pictures you can actually see Kyoto Tower down in the city. Here's the first building we saw walking up to the Temple.



And the view of the city from the actual Temple itself:



The next part of Leg 1 took us through some winding city streets (Sanneizaka and Ninenzaka). We saw some fantastically expensive pottery and some very tacky souvenirs. As we were walking down these streets, we saw a Buddha head sticking up from over the hedge, which was a surprise:



It turns out the Buddha head is within Kodaiji Temple (which we didn't enter).

So that was Leg 1 of Day 2. Leg 2, Leg 3, and Day 3 of our Kyoto Trip will possibly appear tomorrow. ;)