Parces Inn Kyoto

... listata maailman hienoimpien junareittien listalle...

Takaisin Osakassa oltiin viimein kello 20.30 aikoihin ja käytiin vielä nopeasti pyörähtämässä Osakan-aseman lähellä olevissa valtavissa kaupoissa, etsimässä hiukan kaikenlaista tavaraa jatkoa varten. Nyt on pakko alkaa latautua jo tulevaan...

Jaahas ja tästä alkaa nyt todellinen humuviikonloppu! Tiedossa on kolme päivää silkkaa juhlaa, joten päivityksissä saattaa esiintyä pieniä viivästyksiä... :-)

... 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 ...

... been the best luck we'd had all day! We were shown to a private room upstairs, where we all checked our shoes at the door and sat on the floor around the low table. For a set price, it was all you can eat and all you can drink for 2 hours, and we did exactly that. There were grills built into the table, where we cooked all the raw meat and vegetables our lovely waiter Kyle could bring us. I think we may have cleaned out the restaurant, we had so much! Noodles, rice, every ...

... The sushi chefs cut up giant fishes right in front of us and put them in dishes on the belt. This restaurant also had one of the best fake food displays around! It was an automated plates of sushi going around in a circle! The japanese take pride in their fake food displays, which to me mostly end up looking pretty gross! But it really helps when you are trying to order food to someone who does not speak English.

... was dubious at first, and we ended up waiting 15 minutes, but it was actually worth the wait. I thought noodle soup is noodle soup... I stand corrected. It was the best flavor I've ever had with an Udon. With full tummies, we headed up the hill towards Kiyomizu dera. We came across Kennin-Ji on the way up, the oldest Zen Temple in Kyoto. It's very odd to find this places of strict meditation and quiet surrounded by the buzz of busy streets, but ...

... in. the county is mostly mountainous so where there is anything that a house will stay on they build one. The train station in Kyoto is mammoth. Its a huge new building housing the JR line, the local train line, a hotel & a massive shopping centre. The place is so huge they have a building information booth! Not sure exactly where to get out we stumbled along for a while until we made a brave move & went with a particular exit. Somehow miraculously we had opted ...

... and there is no avioding it, you must go on that route like at the fire festival i'll tell about later. from the castle we got to a beautifull garden! we walked the route until we got out at that time we were allready expecting an sms from miki&vered so you might say we were risking kipping them waiting for us, which eventually happened due to other unfortunate reasons... right when we left the garden we recived an sms with location detailes. i allready navigated with ...

... y a Oscar, este ultimo aprendio a usar el macro y se dedico a sacarle fotos a todos los insectos que se encontraba por el camino y cada dos por tres se le oia: Aliiii, seguro que no quieres ver el peazo de arania que acabo de fotografiar?me ha quedado chula chula. A puntito he estado de meterle la camara por cierto sitio, menos mal que me cae simpatico que si no... :-) A la vuelta no hemos preparado para la gran fiesta de fin de verano tambien llamada:Gozan No Okuribi ...

... the camera raised high above his head. Everyone cheered...we jumped into another taxi and off we went...hopefully without incident, to where we started on top of the mountain at Nembutsu-ji Temple. Before we exit the taxi the driver looks at Rochelle and says with a smile, "Camera...Neck!!!" We got a kick out of that...yep but if she'd had it hanging on her neck we would have missed out on all this action. You didn't think that was the end of the story did ...