So I was talking with my friend at the bar the other weekend... You know the place where the most well thought out and great ideas come together. A few hours, or drinks, later it was settled. Next weekend we'd hop the Shinkansen south for a weekend exploring the old historic city of Kyoto. And so began my second jump into Japan and Japanese...
After work Friday I ran home grabbed my back pack and we met up at the station here in Kariya and hopped the express train with all the white shirted salarymen on their way home or out for a drink. A short 5 minute wait at Nagoya and we were on our way, on a bullet train to Kyoto. It's crazy to think how easy it is to get on something like that here. Sooo nice. 45 minutes later we were off the train, checked into our hotel and popped into this little izakaya down the road. 3 Dollar mugs, dollar sushi and yakkatori... Can't go wrong with that.
The next morning we started our exploring. First stop was Nijou-jou. A Castle about 12 blocks from where we were staying. After a quick stop to buy breakfast and an Umbrella for Ro, we made it. It's amazing all the detail and color at these places, the wood working inside was just as intricate and beautiful but no pictures allowed :( . Though it did work out rather nice, as by the time we were done exploring inside the rain had started to let up outside so we made our way around the gardens.
Man I just love the color and rich tones of the wood. And that's one sweet porch haha.
View from the "Porch"
View of the grounds from up on the outer wall.
With the rain now stopped and the people starting to come out and enjoy the now beautiful saturday we made our way through the streets to the Heian Shrine.
So beautiful
After getting there we found out that we should have swapped our order lol. With the sun out Kiyomizudera was packed with Highschoolers and other travelers alike. Made for a pleasant atmosphere though, strolling the packed shopping streets that surround the temple itself. And the view, gorgeous.
The final and probably my favorite stop of the day was Fushimi Inari Shrine. While I had seen photo's and scenes of it in movies and such it was so much different in real life. It was amazing, the tori's just seemed to go on and on forever. The beautiful vibrant orange contrasting the woods outside on the mountainside. Definitely a place I want to go back to during a festival.
After heading up the wrong way for a bit we came to a nice clearing with a clear view of the city, was a nice diversion from all the stairs... And I mean, like a tone of stairs.
These maps were so depressing haha, like looking at your watch on a run or something. Every time we saw a map that tiny little "You are Here" dot never seemed to move up the mountain. Despite that we did finally make it to the top and it was totally worth it, such a calm and beautiful place. Great place to think and calm your mind.
After the day of walking all over town and stairs, sooo many stairs we made our way back to the little izakaya. I mean for a dollar you could get anything you could think of fried on a stick! Sushi, and cheap Beer lol
The next day we just walked our our neighborhood to try and get a feel for the less touristy side of Kyoto, and stumbled across this funny scene. The playgrounds/toys of two different generations haha.
A calm covered shopping mall. The school girls in the for ground were writing wishes to then hang from the bamboo for Tanabata
Like all good things our short weekend trip was soon coming to an end, but not before meeting up with this guy! Crazy to think we hadn't physically seen each other since graduation, and then to meet up on the other side of the world both working for American based Japanese companies. Was great catching up with him before hopping the train back North to Nagoya.
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