Mom & Dad Visit: Day 4

Our first stop on Day 4 was Nijo Castle. Beautiful gardens and architecture. Dad was intrigued by all of the Japanese roofs everywhere we went.

On Day 3 we stuck mostly to the East side of Kyoto so on Day 4 we decided to hit up the West side.

Our second stop was Ginkakuji, the Golden Pavillion. Since it was now the weekend, the place was very crowded. We didn't take our leisurely strolls through the gardens like we did in other places, instead, we got the pictures and got out!

In the afternoon, we grabbed some ekiben (train station lunch boxes) before we caught the shinkansen back east towards Nagoya. Then we grabbed an express train North to Takayama.

The train ride curved through the mountains and along the river and hydro-power plants.  It was a beautiful train ride!

Once we got to our traditional style ryokan in Takayama, the cutest little Japanese girl showed us our room and where everything was. She didn't speak any English so it was a game of charades for part of the time, but we figured it out. We explored the neighborhood a bit and then got cleaned up for dinner.

We were all loving the matching pajamas! Although, this picture looks like we have all been admitted to a padded cell somewhere, I think.

Mom and Dad's first experience with Japanese food was lots of fun.

"What's this?"

"I don't know, but I like it!"

Soup. Pickles. Mystery foods. Repeat.

Mom & Dad Visit: Day 3

We started our morning leisurely since Mom was sleeping past 5 am. Dad started his morning with the sun again. Our first stop after breakfast was the Kyoto Imperial Palace. We had a guided tour in English that answered all of Dad's questions about how those roofs are built. From the palace we moved on to the Philosopher's Path, more temples, more shrines and more walking! The wonderful thing about Kyoto is that there is always something new to see.

The next stop on our temple treck was Kiyomizu-dera. The Clear Water Temple. It is a classic visit in Kyoto and one I've seen many times, but still a must see. The hike up the street street is worth it for the great views of Kyoto!

 

Plus, this time we got an extra bonus! Geisha! I don't think they were true professionals, probably tourists like ourselves, but still fun to see.

After visiting Kiyomizudera, we hopped on the bus back towards the Gion district. We had a few hours before our dinner reservation so we popped in to Yasuka Shrine. We happened to have timed our visit perfectly and the Gion Matsuri festival started that evening. The whole street was just down with vendors, beer stands and people practicing for the parade in a few days. Perfect! We stopped for a beer and attempted to cool down from our miles of walking. We walked down the street for a bit and found a restaurant along the river with outdoor seating. A perfect place for round 2!

We ended Day 3 at Grill Miyata. A few friends from the squadron recommended that we go so I figured it was worth a shot. I wasn't really sure what we were in for, but what we got was a kooky old man and stories upon stories. I can't even begin to describe it, but it was quite entertaining. We rolled out of the restaurant 3 hours later full from an awesome steak, quite intoxicated and our sides hurting from laughing so hard.

Another busy day!

Weekend Trip: Day 1 Kyoto

Last weekend, I went to visit my friend Hillary. Hillary has come to Atsugi base, I've been to her home town in Fukui, but this time we decided to meet somewhere else!

We started the weekend on Saturday and we both took the train to Kyoto. A famous festival, Gion Matsuri, was finishing on Saturday and we wanted to check out the end of it. We watched a parade that was somewhat disappointing (mostly because of the number of people), but it was neat to see the child that is used at the "diety" of the festival. This festival is the only one in Japan that uses an actual child for this anymore. Interesting!

Apparently it was a pants optional parade as well-

Hillary came with a few of her friends as well- Lindsey, Tessa and Kim (Rob came too but he's not in this picture). I met Tessa when I visited Fukui in March.

Kyoto was crazy hot if you couldn't tell by the use of their fans. At one point in the day we sat along the river so we could stick our feet in and cool off!

After the parade, we took the train to Osaka where our hotel was for the weekend. We stayed in a capsule hotel which was pretty nice! More pictures tomorrow!

Kyoto

We had a blast in Kyoto over the weekend. My feet were hurting after all the walking we did, but we couldn't have asked for more perfect weather. The sun was out but not too hot and the cherry blossoms were still in full bloom. I don't think I would visit Kyoto at any other time of the year, it was just so beautiful!

The first day we left on the Shinkansen (high speed bullet trane seen here) at got to Kyoto around 12:30 pm. We checked in to our hotel and then took the bus to Kinkakuji (aka the Golden Pavillion) aptly named because it is covered in gold leaf.

Afterwards, we walked around this area of town and found a sushi-go-round for lunch. I love these places because you can eat a ton and it only cost like $10 for the two of us. We saw a few more temples and shrines as we wondered around this part of town. Kyoto has something like 5000 shrines/temples so you can't go more than a few blocks without seeing several.

The next day we started early and hit up the following:
1. Ginkakuji (Silver Pavillion although not covered in silver, but that was the original plan)
2. The Path of Philosophy (the guy that built Ginkakuji liked to walk along this canal to gain wisdom)
3. Kiyamizu-dera (Clear Water temple- gorgeous)
4. Fushimi-Inari Shrine (Path of 1000 torii gates- there were a lot of torii gates)Glenn on our Chu-hi break beforing taking on the 1000 torii gates. I don't think I've posted about Chu-hi but it is the best alcoholic drink that comes in a can. 8% alcohol and less than 100 calories. These things get you started! And they come in 8 or so delicious flavors. Yum!
Since the Cherry Blossoms were in bloom many of the shrines and tea tables and mini restaurants set up for you to maximize your cherry blossom viewing experience. Other places simply had benches/tables you could lounge around on to take in the flowers. I wanted to do this. Glenn was getting bored rather quickly though.
The next day we hit up Nijo Castle before catching the Shinkansen to Hiroshima at 1:30 pm.More posts to follow!