Sep. 24th, 2007 10:36 pm
Japan Days 4 and 5 (Kyoto)
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chezmaxSunday and Monday were holidays in Japan (the Equinox) and I wandered afield all on my own to Kyoto, which was a bit intimidating as my first day alone.
I arrived in Kyoto rather late in the afternoon, which was rather stupid of me because most of the attractions close at 5. I filed out of Kyoto Station, bought myself a City Bus Pass, and hopped on a rather crowded bus to Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion), a rather stunning gold-leaf clad temple. From there, it was to a Ryoanji with it's famous rock garden.
At this point, things were starting to close, so I walked down a street and eventually caught a bus towards the center of the city, where I looked for something to eat.
I ended up having something very similar to a 'hot hamburg' back home (hamburger beef in gravy), which they called a beef curry (the gravy was slightly tangy). It was tasty. I stopped again (for the nth time in days) at a Starbucks for some tasty caffeine, before going up Kyoto Tower, which is only 100m up, and was awfully crowded, and offered mediocre views, due to the glass and exterior flood lighting. I then went back to Kyoto Station where I was overcome by a desire to know where those escalators went. It turns out Kyoto Station is some 10 stories high, and is a really cool example of modern architecture. At the top, I found a garden, where young Japanese couples seem to go to be romantic... I have some stunning photos... Finally, an hour after entering the station, I caught my train back to Osaka.
Vowing to get there earlier, I got to Kyoto shortly after noon, and my first stop was Nijo Castle, which was both incredibly beautiful and incredibly ugly, but fascinating. It has pretty amazing fortifications and two moats, and pretty grounds. The Ninomaru palace in it, where the Shogun lived was a very strange building. The floors squeak, which was intended to alert the occupants to people attempting to sneak in. The rooms inside are painted, but I found the art style to be ugly, with rather garish yellow and pictures of trees. To be fair, they were painted in the 1700s.
Next up was a visit to the Ginkakuji (Silver Pavilion), which unfortunately, they never quite got around to covering in silver... However, it has really pretty grounds. It started raining while I was on the subway there (subways-I've-ridden-on++) so it was a very damp day. Luckily, there were vendors selling cheap umbrellas (350 yen) so I didn't get completely soaked.
From this temple on south to Nyakuoji Shrine, there's a famous road along the canal known as the Philosopher's Walk that I followed, which was pretty, but would've been much more scenic without the rain. I checked out Nyakuoji, which by this point was just-another-shrine...
I caught yet another crowded city bus to the nearest subway station... Interesting thing about Kyoto is that the busses seem to always be stuffed, but the subway seem quite underutilized. In the interests of comfort, I attempted to take the subway as much as possible.
I wanted to check out the Fushimi Inari Shrine before I left Kyoto, which is famous for having thousands of torii (shinto gates). Unfortunately, I didn't make it to the end of the trail of gates, as my feet were killing me by this point, so I turned around and caught the train back to Osaka.
My feet are *so* sore.
My JR Pass kicks in tomorrow, and I'm going to Nagoya by shinkansen (my first!), and then on to Ise...
Sunday
I arrived in Kyoto rather late in the afternoon, which was rather stupid of me because most of the attractions close at 5. I filed out of Kyoto Station, bought myself a City Bus Pass, and hopped on a rather crowded bus to Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion), a rather stunning gold-leaf clad temple. From there, it was to a Ryoanji with it's famous rock garden.
At this point, things were starting to close, so I walked down a street and eventually caught a bus towards the center of the city, where I looked for something to eat.
I ended up having something very similar to a 'hot hamburg' back home (hamburger beef in gravy), which they called a beef curry (the gravy was slightly tangy). It was tasty. I stopped again (for the nth time in days) at a Starbucks for some tasty caffeine, before going up Kyoto Tower, which is only 100m up, and was awfully crowded, and offered mediocre views, due to the glass and exterior flood lighting. I then went back to Kyoto Station where I was overcome by a desire to know where those escalators went. It turns out Kyoto Station is some 10 stories high, and is a really cool example of modern architecture. At the top, I found a garden, where young Japanese couples seem to go to be romantic... I have some stunning photos... Finally, an hour after entering the station, I caught my train back to Osaka.
Monday
Vowing to get there earlier, I got to Kyoto shortly after noon, and my first stop was Nijo Castle, which was both incredibly beautiful and incredibly ugly, but fascinating. It has pretty amazing fortifications and two moats, and pretty grounds. The Ninomaru palace in it, where the Shogun lived was a very strange building. The floors squeak, which was intended to alert the occupants to people attempting to sneak in. The rooms inside are painted, but I found the art style to be ugly, with rather garish yellow and pictures of trees. To be fair, they were painted in the 1700s.
Next up was a visit to the Ginkakuji (Silver Pavilion), which unfortunately, they never quite got around to covering in silver... However, it has really pretty grounds. It started raining while I was on the subway there (subways-I've-ridden-on++) so it was a very damp day. Luckily, there were vendors selling cheap umbrellas (350 yen) so I didn't get completely soaked.
From this temple on south to Nyakuoji Shrine, there's a famous road along the canal known as the Philosopher's Walk that I followed, which was pretty, but would've been much more scenic without the rain. I checked out Nyakuoji, which by this point was just-another-shrine...
I caught yet another crowded city bus to the nearest subway station... Interesting thing about Kyoto is that the busses seem to always be stuffed, but the subway seem quite underutilized. In the interests of comfort, I attempted to take the subway as much as possible.
I wanted to check out the Fushimi Inari Shrine before I left Kyoto, which is famous for having thousands of torii (shinto gates). Unfortunately, I didn't make it to the end of the trail of gates, as my feet were killing me by this point, so I turned around and caught the train back to Osaka.
My feet are *so* sore.
My JR Pass kicks in tomorrow, and I'm going to Nagoya by shinkansen (my first!), and then on to Ise...
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It's neat that
Go go shinkansen!
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(very famous shrine at Ise!)
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On the other hand, the robotics museum I found was cool. The ise shrines were neat :)
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