Kyoto Day 1

Yesterday we arrived in Kyoto after a minor mishap in the subway system in Osaka. For some reason, Lynsey and I thought we needed to get on a second subway line in order to get to Osaka-shin Station. We hopped off, and Scott had to follow. We ended up missing our Shinkansen (bullet train), but were able to hop on a slower JR line straight to Kyoto. When planning our trip, I did not realize how close Osaka and Kyoto actually were. We also left Osaka at the perfect time because the G20 summit was getting ready to kick off. None of us had any clue that it was happening in Osaka until we got there and saw signs for it and warnings that different places and train lines would be closed because of it.

The hotel that I booked for us in Kyoto is quite swanky. We keep joking that they are going to find a way to kick us out. As we’ve done everywhere else, we dropped our bags and hit the ground running. Kyoto is home to thousands of temples and shrines. It’s a big city but feels much smaller than Osaka. It has an old soul feel to it.

Our hotel is just outside of downtown Kyoto and very close to the Kyoto Imperial Palace Park and Nijo-jo Castle. When planning our trip, I got rather overwhelmed with everything there is to do here and didn’t come up with a game plan. We’ve been flying by the seat of our pants, and Scott has taken over with the logistical planning.

We decided to go ahead and go to the Kyoto Imperial Palace Park first. We walked around the grounds and went into the Imperial Palace itself. The complex sits directly in the center of the Park. We took the scenic route to the entrance. Despite the park being smack in the middle of the city, it’s rather tranquil as you walk through the paths surrounded by trees and bushes. The Imperial Palace was free to get into, but did require you to go through a light security screen. You cannot go into any of the buildings, but they do have plaques describing their different uses. What I’ve learned about these castles is that every room has a specific purpose, and your rank determined which rooms you could enter. The Imperial Palace was a huge complex with sprawling buildings. We took our time going through it despite the fact that it was beginning to rain harder the further we got through the designated path.

We then headed to Shimogamo Shrine with the intention of finding lunch along the way. We ended up at a fast food place called Lotteria. There was no English menu, so we just went based off of pictures. Either we were really hungry or the food was pretty good because we were all happy with our selection.

The path leading into Shimogamo Shrine was quite peaceful. As we arrived at the Torii at the entrance to the Shrine, a man driving a maintenance-like truck stopped and gave Scott an umbrella. We must have been a sight to see with the three of us looking like drowned rats. The umbrella really came in handy for keeping our camera dry! The shrine was beautiful, but we didn’t stay long.

Next, we headed to Ginkaku-ji. Ginkaku-ji turned out to be quite a haul from the Imperial Palace Park and Shinogamo Shrine, and the rain that started there had not let up. Ginkaku-ji is a temple with beautifully raked gardens of sand. It sounds rather strange, but there must be an art form to it. The temple has a beautiful pond in front of it with white sand raked in front if it. The sand is supposed to be symbolic of a mountain and a lake. There is a rather peaceful walking path the cuts through a hill and overlooks the pond and temple. I did manage to slip on the pathway but caught myself. I believe Scott was more worried about our new camera than he was of me!

While we were at the temple, the rain did let up for a little bit, so we were able to start the process of drying out as we made our way back to the hotel. Unfortunately for us, the rain did pick back up again about halfway back. The staff must have seen us coming because they met us with washcloths to ‘dry’ ourselves off with.

For dinner, Scott found a place nearby that sounded pretty good. None of us had it in us to walk a long distance for dinner as we had covered about 13 miles by the evening. I’m not sure what type of restaurant we went too, but we had a hot plate in the middle of our table. We thought the food was going to be cooked right in front of us, but instead, it was brought out on foil and placed on the hot plate to keep it warm while we ate it. We got a mix of veggies, Kobe beef, and mushrooms. Each dish came out separately, and each of them were delicious.