Bullet train to Kyoto, Japan

shinkansen AKA bullet train
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The bullet train was fast & smooth.  It doesn't feel like you're travelling with such speed.  2.5 hours later, we arrived at kyoto station late in the afternoon.  The kyoto station was bright & clean...as usual, it took a bit of time to get acclimated to the subway system.  After emerging from the subway system, it was dark already.  A lady was nice enough to offer directions.  Did we look that hopeless?  She couldn't speak English, but was able to point us in the right direction after looking at our map.  They're so friendly here.  We arrive to our Ryokan.  As we enter the lobby, we are greeted by the friendly staff that speak pretty good English.  It looks like any other hotel lobby...no signs of Japanese ryokan there...except for the passerby's in kimono dress.  As we get led up to our room...we enter our little foyer where you take your shoes off.  Slippers are there, but I don't think you're supposed to wear them in the room...so, i don't know why they're there...maybe to walk to the baths or around the hotel.  We enter our large minimalist room with tatami mats, a short table & chairs, there's a separate sitting room (i suppose for smoking), there's a TV with no English channels, & behind the closet doors are the mats we will sleep on.  There is no closet for our huge bags...don't the Japanese pack anything?  & we didn't want to ruin the cleanliness with out bulky bags, so we stuck them in the sitting room.  We have a small bathroom with western toilet with heated seat & all & shower.  This is a "Modern Ryokan".  Traditional ryokans do not have a private bathroom from what i hear.  Shortly after settling in, drinking tea, & taking pictures of our room, a woman in kimono is at our door.  She doesn't speak any English & shows us a picture of a selection of kimonos we are to have.  We suspect they are for the bath or to wear in the room.  We choose our kimonos & she exits...we're still unsure of what happened.  She comes back with our kimonos and tries to tell us in her best English the times the bath is open.  I felt bad, because it was very difficult for her & she seemed embarrassed.  I wished I knew just a little Japanese to make it easier on her.  She even made a call down to the reception, probably for a translation...but, she was able to remember before speaking to them.

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After our tea-break...we decided to venture out for dinner.  About 10 min. walk away down dark streets, we find Teramachi...a huge open shopping mall.  One of the most difficult chores in Japan, is deciding what to eat.  I don't know how we found it, I think it was in the Frommer guide, but we found a sushi train restaurant.  It was packed!  We sit down at our bright & happy table...with a variety of plates passing us by all adorned with happy cartoon characters.  They had the traditional sushi...fish on top of rice...traditional rolls...but they had ones I've never seen...like cream corn on top of rice...a sort of SPAM-looking one that tasted like a BBQ meatball...all fresh, delicious & cheap!!  For dessert, they had fruit slices, jello-looking desserts, chocolate mousse & cake, etc.  i know this is not the best place for sushi in kyoto...but with our budgets, its ok.  This was my first stop & I couldn't spend too much. Afterwards, we walked around the bright streets...shops closed early considering it was still so busy on the streets.  We went back to our room to find our sleeping mats...futons...were made for us.  Surprisingly enough, they were comfortable!!  Sleeping on the floor never felt so good.

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The next morning, a different lady in kimono came in to put away our beds.  If she didn't do that, there's no telling how long we'd lay in our beds.  We set out for some sightseeing.  It was nasty out...cold & rainy.  We set out on foot for some brekkie...au bon pain-like...boulangerie.  Prices were about the same as NY & they had many choices of breads, pastries, & yummy coffee.  First stop, was the Imperial Castle...which we couldn't enter without permission, but we wanted to catch a glimpse.  The park was beautiful considering we were rained on.  It looked like autumn in Central Park.  The yellow & orange foilage was on the trees & on the ground.  This was my favorite time of the year, so I loved it.  We were able to get some pics of the giant heavy gates, but we couldn't get much closer.  Next stop was to head towards another touristy spot...moat-surrounded Nijo Castle.  According to Frommer, is was built in 1603 by the 1st Tokugawa shogun.  No pictures are allowed.  As usual, we had to take our shoes off & use the communal slippers (I hope they clean them).  Walking along the creaking cypress floors (purposely creaking to protect from intruders), you can see how the shoguns lived...with their mistresses, where they trained, etc. etc.  There's no furniture...where do they store everything?  I guess they don't hoard things.  As your walking through, you can see the detail of artwork on the walls & ceiling...very intricate.  It was very peaceful with the sound of rain outside...it was very serene & dark in the halls, you can almost picture how life was in the 1600's.  Afterwards...tired & soaken wet...we head for the Ryokan via the spotless, enclosed subway.  On our way back, we stopped by this "fast"food type place...where you order & pay at a machine...give them your ticket & your food is served at your table.  I don;t remember what I got...but it consisted of steaming hot stew...a raw egg on the side...& a bowl of rice.  I don't know if I was supposed to, but I put the egg in the stew...there was no way I'd eat it raw.  It was ok...but there was too many unfamiliar items in the stew.  We returned to the Ryokan & changed out of our wet clothes.  We ventured out for Teramachi again that night, since we had time before the shops closed.

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The next morning, we checked out of our Ryokan & headed for K's backpackers, which was closer to the train station.  We took a taxi.  The taxi has this cool automatic door.  The driver was wearing white-gloves & was friendly.  No tip required.  K's - Kyoto was a bit larger & much busier than the Tokyo one & no lift!  Our room wasn't ready yet, so we ventured to the Kyoto station.  Kyoto station is huge!!  There's a mall there & many restaurants to choose from.  After a light brekkie, we went temple-touring using one of Frommer's walking tours.  First stop was Sanjugasendo Hall.  Rebuilt in 1266, this longest wooden building in Japan holds the 1,001 wooden statues of the thousand-handed Kannon...no shoes, no photos allowed.  I felt at peace in this place.  The garden outside was beautiful.  Everything in its place for a reason.  Next stop, Kiyomizu Temple.  There are many crafty shops on the way there.  It was cold & drizzly again.  According to good 'ol Frommer, it was founded in 798 & rebuilt in the 1600's buy the 3rd Tokugawa shogun.  You can get awesome views of Kyoto from the wooden deck of the main hall.  Orange was the color of the day...the gate & the foilage all blended together.  There were many statues & other religious artifacts that I unfortunately didn't understand.  There was also this well, for lack of a better word, from the Ottawa falls where you can drink the spring water.  My OCD-ness didn't allow me to try it.  I'm sure it was cleaner than NJ tap water.  Afterwards, we walked down the windy souvenir shop-lined pedestrian streets.  Its very quaint.  Old Japanese architecture everywhere...no bright-lights-big-city anywhere.  We stopped for some lunch consisting of one of those pork cutlet curry rice bowls to regroup.  It was getting late & it was pretty much too dark to finish the walking tour.  We saw a couple more temples & shrines, which I cannot recall the name.  One consisted of a VERY tall buddha-like figure, which we couldn't get close to b/c it was closed.  There was another tall pagoda that we found, but was too dark to take a picture of.  We wanted to make the Handicraft Center our last stop, but couldn't find it in the rain & darkness.  We got pretty lost in...we think...in the gion district...& pretty far from our hostel.  A nice man offered helped us get back on track & we took a bus back to Kyoto station.  We weren't very hungry for dinner when we arrived at Kyoto station.  We arrived back at the hostel, met one of our bunk-mates, who was a female travelling around the world by herself.  We didn't know what to do b/c, we were so tired.  The hostel was buzzing with tourists...people on the computers, in the common area, on the couches, cooking in the large kitchen, everywhere...no where to unwind.  There wasn't any restaurants in the immediate area, so we decided to eat our candy snacks for dinner & call it a night.