8/10/07 - Kyoto

Friday was our first day to see the major sites of Kyoto. It took us a little while to figure out the bus system, but then we were on our way. We were on the “tourist bus,” a special route that hits the main attractions, and it was really crowded.

Our first stop was Ginkaju-ji – the “Silver Pavilion.” The temple had an outstanding garden surrounded by tall, extremely straight pine trees. There was also a raked garden with a cone made of sand symbolizing Mt Fuji.

It was very hot that day, so we were happy to find ice cream vending machines right outside the template. The cookies and cream was pretty tasty! We walked down the street to the path along a canal called the Philosopher’s Walk. The path is lined with trees, coffee and craft shops, and small boutiques. It also takes you through a nice neighborhood with fancy houses. Our favorite part of the walk was viewing the different homes – such a different style of architecture than what we’re used to seeing. We also found more vending machines and finally tried Pocari Sweat – we’d seen advertisements for it all over. It was pretty good – kind of like Sprite.

We continued walking to the Heian Shrine. It is brightly colored – orange pillars with green tiles. The shrine had a nice garden with a large pond. There were stepping stones across the pond and many people were stopping to have their pictures made. We didn’t want to be left out, and an Italian guy offered to take our picture. There was also a large covered bridge where we stopped to rest for a few minutes.

We stopped at a small café for lunch (ate rice pilaf with shrimp & a pork cutlet with rice), and then it was time for shopping! We’d heard that the Kyoto Handicraft Center was a good place for souvenirs, but it was mostly dollar store-type junk. We did find some chopsticks and enjoyed looking at wood prints. We then went to the Gion district, Kyoto’s best-known geisha quarter. There we found the Kyoto Craft Center, which had much better offerings, a scarf store that has been in business since 1615, and a makeup store where Amy bought some traditional blotting papers. Amy enjoyed looking at the stores that sold traditional Japanese accessories – some of the clogs that are worn with kimono cost more than a pair of Manolo Blahniks!

Before going back to the hotel, we walked over to a Laundromat near the train station that we’d read about online. It was old and gross – it definitely did not seem like a place where your clothes would come out cleaner. Then we accidentally got on the wrong bus trying to get back to our hotel. There was a lot of traffic, and the bus driver was nice enough to let us off the bus. We ended up just walking back to the hotel – much easier. We realized that the smart thing to do would be to ask the staff at the hotel about a Laundromat, and they told us about one near the hotel. Robert went to check it out – much better.

That evening we enjoyed dinner at the hotel’s Italian restaurant. Robert had seafood pizza and Amy had pan-fried fish with asparagus risotto. The restaurant was very nice and a good break from the traditional Japanese food.