Further Adventures of a Canadian in Kyoto

  Kyoto, Japan
Wednesday, September 28, 2005

After our usual stint at the breakfast buffet, Dad & I headed off across the street to Nijo castle. Trying to be funny, we asked our friendly doorman for directions, and he seriously explained to us how to cross the street. Thanking him, and simultaneously rolling our eyes, we found our way to the front entrance and paid our entrance into the castle.

Nijo Castle

Compared to Himeji castle, which we'd visited only days before, Nijo-jo was not nearly as impressive. It had wooden floors that were built to produce sounds like singing nightingales when walked on. These floors were pretty cool in that they squeaked in an un-annoying way, and they probably worked well as an alarm system. After walking through the castle and getting over my initial excitement over the musical floor, I decided to be deviant and reach over the roping to touch one of the tatami mats. I'd seen them before, but never felt one. I was actually surprised at how smooth it felt. I'll have to think about getting one for my room - they are supposed to help cool and de-humidify a room.

Flutterby

After the castle, we wanted to spend some time seeing something different, so we took the bus to the Japanese Botanical Gardens. Famous around the world, the gardens were incredible.

Pretty in Pink

Flowers and plants of all varieties were flourishing together with the gentlest of care. Japanese people of all ages were spread out throughout the gardens each appreciating the flora in their own way; some were drawing them, others photographing, and even others just picnicking in the park setting. One woman that seemed to get our attention was yelling out random things into the apparent space around her. We weren't sure what her problem was, but it was a relief when she finally left and we could return to enjoying the surroundings.

Knowing that our tour at the Imperial Palace would be beginning at 2 pm (there are only 2 English tours available each day, at 10 am and 2 pm), we left the park with enough time to catch the bus and make it to the imperial grounds. Unfortunately, on my map it showed he imperial palace and park, but failed to point out where the main entrance was. When we got off our bus, we found ourselves at the far end of the Imperial Gardens, and had to hike across gravel paths for nearly a mile to reach the front gate. Once there, we were directed back to the street where an information desk issued us our permission forms to enter the grounds and then re-directed us back to the entrance. We met up with nearly 40 other tourists waiting for the tour to begin, and had just enough time to drink a bottle of water before the tour left.

Imperial Gate

Our tour guide was a Japanese woman, and despite her attempts, many of her English words were difficult to make out. Rather than listening to what she had to say, I just enjoyed the sights and tried to imagine what things were like back in the Heian era, which I learned so much about last year. It was crazy to think I was standing in the park where once upon a time, poetry contests were taking place. The tour lasted an hour, and afterwords, both Dad & I were exhausted from all of the walking and exploring we'd done that day. Deciding to splurge, we took an air-conditioned taxi ride back to the hotel. The cab driver was a man that spoke English, and engaged us in conversation for the car ride. We didn't mind, but were happy to get back to the hotel and have time to put our feet up.

The rest didn't last for long however, as we headed back out to Gion for a night of window shopping and searching for souvenirs. The Gion shopping district is famous for Pontocho alley, where souvenir shops are stacked one after the other between haute couture and pachinko parlors. We must have walked into every shop we passed, but managed to walk out with over half of the souvenirs we needed to purchase. The shopping was a nice change from sight seeing, and included people watching, as even the locals seemed to flock to the area for its booming night life and numerous restaurants.

Our evening ended with a traditional Japanese style dinner back at the hotel. We didn't get to sit in the seiza style that the menu pictures suggested, but our meal was served by a kimono-clad woman and the meal itself included a number of traditional dishes. Neither Dad nor myself left the restaurant feeling very fulfilled. Our dinner, besides it's beautiful presentation, was not very large, nor was it the type of food we've grown accustomed to here in Japan.