Kyoto

The second half of this day was spent in Kyoto. I left on the train from Nara at noon and got to Kyoto at 1pm. I was VERY tired at this point from walking over 8 miles in Nara, but was determined to see a few sites since I was there. I paid FULL fare to get to Kyoto which was only about 500yen from Nara. Kyoto station is HUGE and I was a little lost at first but then found the bus and the proper one to take me to the Golden temple, as this was one of the 3 things I wanted to see while I was here. I found the bus and it took about 40 minutes to get to Kinkaku-ji Temple or Golden Pavilion as it is know. It was VERY hot, cramped and stuffy on that bus and I was out of water and was getting exhausted. After I got there I paid my 500yen to get in and enjoyed a brief visit. Maybe only 40 minutes. I took many pics of the golden Pavilion as it is quite beautiful. However, it was restored after a fire 50 years ago and it seems to new to be really amazing. But a very pretty garden and scenery in the area. It was a summer home for a ruler many years ago.

Then I took the bus back. I was hoping it would be a different driver on that route but of course it wasn’t. I didn’t pay my full fare and just got off last time and I think he noticed. They don’t say anything so.... I got back to the station and got a 2 liter bottle of Aquarius, which is like their Gatorade but with much less sugar and costs about 300yen at 7-11. It was VERY refreshing! Then I strolled to the Gion district which is the Geisha district to many foreigners. I was on a Geisha hunt with my camera but didn’t find any. I asked a friend here and she said they do still have Geishas but they are VERY expensive and are only for Japanese for the most part. T was a nice walk and I ran into the Kyoto National Museum on the way.

Kyoto is a nice town. A great example of old meets new, as there are temples in the middle of the downtown next to Starbucks and such. Very large and one day is DEF not enough to see all the sites in Kyoto. I ran into a German girl who told me she had been there 5 days and still hadn’t seen every thing.
Lastly, I fond the Nishiki market which was the last of the 3 things I wanted to see. I thought it would be some back-alley market with really good deals. But it was a mile long upscale market. Louis Vuitton, and expensive restaurants with 100$ Kobe beef and 100$ exotic melons.
I found one more temple on my walk back as I refused to get a taxi since I had gone without all day. It was next to the station and was one of the biggest wooden buildings in the world. Pretty amazing if you ask me. I got on the train at 5:30 with the intent to go to Osaka for dinner as it was on the way but I was just to tired and couldn’t think of anything else than laying in my bed. It was a total of 15 hours of traveling time that day.

On the way home the train was SO crowded I had to stand with everyone else f or over and hour before I pushed my way into a seat. No more being timid here. Some 123 year old lady turned around to bitch at me in Japanese as she thought I pushed the brakes off on her wheelchair and se started rolling. I just stared at her till she was done and said, "WA-KAR-I-MAS-EN." In the most foreigner tone I could. It means I don’t understand and I thought that would annoy her. I didn’t even touch her. I then decided to stop holding in the gas I was previously as her wheelchair was right behind me. I guess she shouldn’t yell at a foreigner for no reason next time. Note to travelers: don’t sit next to me on a hot, crowded, stuffy train after I eat dinner. :)