8/11/07 - Kyoto

Our last full day in Kyoto! Our goal was to finish seeing the major sites, so we began the morning by heading to the far side of town to see Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavilion. We headed out for the bus and stopped at the entrance of the hotel for some lemonade to go. Every day they had an urn with lemonade; we think they probably have tea when it’s cooler. It was a long bus ride (about an hour), but we made it eventually. The structure sits on the edge of a pond and is totally covered in gold leaf and topped by a bronze phoenix. It appears to glow – very pretty – and is also surrounded by a nice garden. At the gift shop Robert found a calendar for his office.
Next stop was the Ryoan-ji Temple. It was founded in 1450, and its claim to fame is its famous Zen rock garden. There were a large number of people sitting on the porch contemplating the garden, but we were not quite sure of what the big deal was. It was nice, but not nearly as impressive as the guidebooks lead us to believe. The ground around the temple was covered in moss that looked like carpet – we were more enthralled by that than the rock garden. Outside the temple was a small gift shop where Amy finally found a painted fan she liked at a reasonable price – success!
Our final big stop was Nijo Castle, home to the Shogun and built in the late 1500’s. The castle is surrounded by a moat. The gate had gold plated fixtures while the main entrance had beautiful wood carvings with birds, peacocks, and flowers. The most impressive part of the castle is the flooring. Called “nightingale floors,” the boards were carefully laid so that the nails and supports below the floorboards rub together and squeak when walked on, alerting the inhabitants of any intruders particularly during the night. The squeaking sounded just like birds – it was really interesting, especially considering that the floors still produce the desired effect over 500 years later.
By that time, we were ready for lunch. We took the subway to the central part of the city and tried another place recommended by one of our books, Ganko Sushi. We both had a sushi combo (tuna, salmon, shrimp, unagi, yellowtail, tofu, tamago, and octopus), and Amy had a side of soba noodles, while Robert had tempura. It was pretty good, especially after the long morning of sightseeing.
We made a quick stop by a little store we’d seen earlier so Robert could buy some wooden sake cupts, then we went back to the hotel where Amy planned to rest and Robert headed to the Laundromat to do some laundry for us and enjoy a snowcone. That turned out to be quite the adventure, and Robert learned what happens when you have a magazine mixed in with your laundry. Nothing a lint roller couldn’t fix! After the events of the day, we decided to take it easy and just order room service. They set up a table in our room – we went for American food, a hamburger and a chicken sandwich…although apparently the Japanese mean “chicken salad” sandwich when they list it on the menu. Not what we expected, but still tasted good. We walked to the Circle K for ice cream, borrowed a DVD from the front desk (“Last Samurai”), and called it a night!