Hotel Regina Kyoto

... 10 minuutin päähän Kiotoon. Ja näin tehtiin.

Kiidettiin siis hirmu kyytiä Nagoyaan asti, jossa hypättiin ulos ja alettiin miettimään, että mitäs nyt sitten? Aseman näytöllä luki, että juuri on lähdössä juna Takaymaan, joten ei kun äkkiä ovesta sisään ja matkaan. Junan hurjasta diesel-murinasta jo kuuli, että nyt ollaankin sitten lähdössä hiukan erilaisille reiteille. Sen verran ymmärrettiin Japanilaista kuulutusta, että matka-aika Takaymaan on yli 3 tuntia ...

... noin 10 minuuttia, eikä siinä ehtinyt kuin lyödä ahterinsa penkkiin ja avata teejuoman, niin oltiinkin jo perillä! Shin-Koben asemalta lähdettiin kävelemään (tietysti taas) kohti Kobe Lumierea ja löydettiinkin paikka parin kilometrin talsimisen jälkeen.

Ja kannatti kyllä kävellä, koska tosi komea oli tämä Lumiere ja aivan mielettömästi oli tullut ihmisiä sitä katsomaan. Valoista oli tehty ikään kuin kirkon seinät ja massiivista kirkkomusiikkia raikui ...

Today we spent the morning to touring around Kyoto before catching our train back to Tokyo. We stopped to visit the Nijo Castle which was originally bulit in 1603 as the official home of the first Tokugawa Shogun. Although it didn't have the beautiful gardens like the temples it was still a very interesting place. It even had a moat like European castles. We then went to see the Kyoto Imperial Palace. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to go ...

... empty. As it was still early in the day, the "little" guys were still competing; the big matches weren't until that evening. But Bridget, Eben and I loved every minute of the competition, and lounged about our box all afternoon watching the fights. There is so much ceremony and tradition that goes along with every fight, it is absolutely captivating to watch. But aside from the cultural aspects, it is also incredibly enjoyable to watch enormous dudes in silk ...

... sunset *nd To-k*e. To-k*e is this l*ntern festiv*l, if you will, where they light tens of thous*nds of p*per l*nterns (*nd stone l*nterns, too; see below). They’ve done it *t K*sug* T*ish* for * while, but h*ve recently exp*nded it to the whole city. Ten or so shrines, monuments or temples light up tons of p*per l*nterns. Some were cool, with reflections in the w*ter; some m*de designs (like he*rts) in * l*rge field. We ...

... ready for dinner. We went to Ryoen-ji, a beautiful zen temple built into the base of the mountains that border Kyoto to the east. While I was a bit dubious of Zen gardens at first, I am really starting to warm to a portion of the garden dedicated to the blank slate of simple lines... I dunno, maybe Japan is finally really starting to sink in. We walked back to the hotel, showered, and hopped a taxi to the next shop... Ready for this? A kimono shop. Kaoru ...

... on cobblestoned streets! Three other Geisha saw the three 'gaijin' (us) gawking at them through a window across a canal and smiled and waved politely :) The next day we walked through maybe a few hundred of the thousands of bright orange tori gates of Fushimi Inari and then Toji Temple with its five-storey pagoda. Last stop of the day was Nijo-jo Castle, which reminded Greg of watching Kung Fu theatre as a kid. Kyoto is one incredible city.

... activities together with thee ceremony and calligraphy) workshop and seminar. It ended up being a really nice experience although most of the explanations where in Japanese. As the weekend ended it was now time to finish registration for my courses. They are as follows (for those who are interested): Developmental Economics I (decent course with a teacher who has been abroad a lot), Energy and ...

... quarters, Angela was tired so she curled up on a rock under a small wooden awning, and again the cameras came out. So tired and hot, but satisfied we left Kinkakuji. If you only see one gold plated temple in your lifetime, make sure it is this one. It really was spectacular. Again we hopped on another pleasantly freezing bus to head to Kinkakuji's poorer cousin, Ginkakuji (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginkakuji ). Once we got there ...

... morning, we decided to have a little lunch before we ventured further. Dropping in a small, quaint noodle shop at the edge of the Higashiyama district, we had a tasty meal of tempura-don and nisshin soba (the latter a Kyoto speciality of buckwheat noodles in a hot broth with grilled fish). Mayu spent the rest of the day bouncing from temple to shrine and so on from the south end of Higashiyama to the far northern reaches. First looking around Kiyomizu-dera, we passed a bit of ...