Kinparou Kyoto

... lumihuippuisine vuoristomaisemineen, mutta silti kadun ettei jääty Gerossa. Siinä paikassa oli jotain todella kiehtovaa ja mielenkiintoista! Varma kohde ensi kerralla...

Pari tuntia käveltiin ympäri Takaymaa, jonka jälkeen haettiin kunnon matkaeväät kaupasta ja hypättiin takaisin Nagoyaan menevään junaan. Se oli siinä. Olipa melkoinen pikavisiitti tämä, mutta pelkkä junamatka jo teki reissusta todellakin vaivan arvoisen! Tämän junareitin voi ilman ...

... mitään ihmeempiä suunnitelmia, niin tehtiin pikapäätös suunnata Kobeen katsomaan Lumiere valoteosta, jota on paljon mainostettu joka puolella Japania. Kobe Lumiere on muistomerkki vuoden 1995 maanjäristyksen uhreille ja se järjestetään aina joulukuussa. Vuoden 1995 maanjäristyksen uhreja oli kaiken kaikkiaan melkein 6500 ja aineelliset vahingot aivan järjettömiä, että mistään pikkujutusta ei ollut kysymys.

Matka luotijunalla Osakasta Kobeen kesti ...

... of youth culture. Much like Time Square in New York .... lots of lights and lots of shops. There were thousands of people on the streets. Went to a fantastic noodle shop for dinner ... had an udon noodle bowl with a soft boiled egg. Also ate some deep fried noodle snack. It was all delicious.

Stopped at Starbucks again before cathcing the subway home.

Sorry not able to load any pictures today .. will put some up as soon as I can.

... where everyone but Gio and I promptly fell asleep on the tables and benches. We rested there until we'd had our fill of McBreakfasts, and then headed back to the train station to catch a train to Kobe, and back to the MV Explorer. We were back on the ship by 10 a.m., but that certainly didn't mean we had time to rest! This was simply the part where our original Japlan split off into 3 smaller Japlans, as a few of our team had homestays to get to, Kaitlin and Steven ...

... the m*ps I downlo*ded from the hotels’ websites *re *lmost useless. They le*ve out be*ucoup streets *nd *re orient*ted poorly *s well.]

Found Kyoto M*ng* Museum. They h*d speci*l exhibit on Yok*i (J*p*nese folklore demons). W*lked *round, looking *t perm*nent collection first. Ho*rds of m*ng*. Almost *ny title you could think of. And they were *ll *v*il*ble to sit *nd re*d right there. We looked * couple then went to ...

... se trouve à 10 minutes à pieds de Kyoto station. De l'autre côté de la rue, une épicerie et un 100yen shop (magasin 1$). Le nécessaire quoi! Les 3 premiers jours furent froids et venteux. Première journée: choisir le lit, défaire les bagages et faire une petite épicerie. Deuxième journée: Première promenade à Fushimi Inari Shrine. Troisième journée: grande marche jusqu'au centre ville afin de découvrir les alentours. Ensuite les visites commencent... Fushimi Inari Shrine ...

... Feet starting to ache at this point and only half way to destination and that's considering I've to make my way back. I pass two more temples (Nanzen-ji and Eikan-do) before arriving at ..... The Philosophers Path ....which is a 2km pathway to Ginkaku-ji - the most northerly of temples in East Kyoto and a beautiful zen garden to boot. The highlight is the path itself which meanders alongside a canal and Kyoto homes. The cherry blossoms, not ...

... and chants. Morning prayers were followed by breakfast, which consisted of much the same style vegetarian fare as we had for dinner the night before. Somehow, it worked better as a dinner than as a breakfast; I guess my Canadian habits prefer coffee and a bagel, what can I say? Then, the long journey back from Koya-san to Osaka, which was basically the same as the journey there, but in reverse, and in the pouring rain. We once again took a bus to a cable car to a ...

Kyoto is a little bit far from my hometown. It takes two hours to get there by a limited express train or five hours by an express train. So it's not actually located in my neighborhood. This time I had got a 3 day weekend pass for all Kintetsu lines. It cost only 4000 yen, but limited express trins were not available without reservations. Still the ticket is very useful to travel in Kinki, if you have enogh time. On the first day, I got up early in the morning ...

... de jardin artistiquement arrangé, ou de panorama à flanc de montagne. Puis nous avons poursuivi notre petit bonhomme de chemin en direction du Ryoanji, un des plus célèbres jardins de pierres du pays, au bord d'un petit étang. Mais là aussi, le temps grisâtre faisait paraitre l'ensemble un peu triste et terne à notre grand regret. On y trouve cependant, chose plutôt étonnante, un mini-stupa ...