Kyoto
From Visiting Gregg in Kyoto, Japan on Jul 21 '08
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Kyoto was spared from bombing during WWII so is one of the best preserved cities in Japan. It is an amazing place. We went on a 5 hour walking tour with a man called "Johnnie Hillwalker" He took us off the beaten path to temples, artist studios including ceramics, fan-making, prayer bead making and more. It was nice to be away from crowds for the day. When we were at the aquarium in Osaka it was SO packed because it was a holiday. Anyway, on the tour, we sampled intari, a kind of vegetarian sushi, and later a pastry that I thought was gross. Cafes are popular here, I never knew that.
Later that night we walked around Gion, the Geisha area, and it was especially beautiful. We spotted only one Geisha from a distance but its better than nothing right? The next day we went to Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Temple, which is covered in gold leaf. Also, we went to the Kyoto National Museum. It wasn't that impressive to me but maybe it's just because I don't think that "Esoteric Buddhist Tools" are the nost interesting thing ever or the fact that the descriptions in English are either extremely vague or nonexistent. They did have some very nice temple guardians and Buddhas from Kyoto's temples in wood and bronze.
In Kyoto, I'm pretty sure we stayed at the cleanest, nicest hostel on Earth. It was inexpensive too and it had a nice cafe attached to it with a buffet for breakfast that had really good bread (haven't had much bread here)...
We took the bullet train, the Shinkansen I think they call it, to Tokyo yesterday afternoon. It was kind of cool, kind of made me sick though. Gregg likes it alot. I forgot how fast it goes. We made it to the Oak Hotel in Tokyo and went to Shibuya for dinner. Shibuya is where you find that major pedestrian crossing that is in Lost in Translation.
Ok off to the zoo!!
LOVE you!
photos of the walking tour:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=61895&l=54839&id=632006220
other photos of Kyoto:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=62779&l=73aa6&id=632006220
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