Kyoto - Day 2

We slept well our first night in Kyoto (relatively well anyway. If you count Alessandra getting rolled over by Olivia and actually kicked out of the bed by her... Olivia flails all over the place!). We had scheduled a half day bus tour in Kyoto before we got there with JTB Sunrise Tours. We had to make our way to another hotel in Kyoto before we could meet the bus.

The hotel we were heading to was on the other side of the Kyoto Train Station (that's it in the photo here)


And here we are walking into the station. I loved this view (reflection) of the Kyoto tower.

Here we are in the middle of the station (it was so crowded during the morning commute time. I didn't get a good photo of the crowds,but here is our smiling Olivia on the elevator... going up! :)

Once we made it to the hotel, we checked in with our very diverse tour group and headed out.

 

Alessandra took this photo of Brad and Olivia on the bus.

Our first stop was Nijo Castle. Originally built in 1603 as the residence of a Shogun, it continued on in Shogun heritage through 1867 when it was returned to the sovereignty of the Emperor. The grounds and buildings were very well maintained and our favorite part was the "Nightingale" Floor - the floorboards were settled into place so that they would always make a squeaking sound, so no one could sneak up on the Shogun.

The girls and I outside one of the gates.

I think that behind Alessandra here is the garden area - with water springs. It was a lovely spot, but the guide told us that some gardens were meant for peacefulness, this one was supposed to exude energy.

The next couple of photos are from Alessandra. She forgot her camera on the trip, so she got to use ours. :) Lucky for you!

I think that Olivia must be Alessandra's favorite photo subject (although she also has a Wall-E figurine that she takes a lot of photos of... and lamby too of course).

Olivia in front of the "energy" garden

Our family - outside of the gate.

Nijo Castle.

Onto our next stop. The Golden Pavilion. Kinkakuji is a Zen Buddhist temple - and probably one of the most known sites in Kyoto. Covered in gold leaf, the temple surrounded by trees and picturesque landscape makes you feel like you were placed here 500 years ago.

Yep, it's gold alright.

Brad and Kinkakuji

You cant see it too well through the trees here, but we were actually behind the temple on a hill.

Alessandra taking a break.

Our next stop: Kyoto Imperial Palace
Kyoto takes great pride in being home to the capital of Japan for over 1,000 years. The buildings that we saw were actually reconstructed (after being burned down a couple of times, I guess when you build palaces out of wood that happens from time to time...). ANYWAY. It was a gorgeous place and fun to imagine what "royalty" in those days would have been like.

Heading into the Palace gates...

This was the official entrance used by courtiers who had been given permission to visit the Emperor. (There was also a special entrance for all of the Emperor's mistresses).

I liked the red/orange of the beams in this photo

Brad and Olivia outside of the main palace area. We actually weren't allowed any closer to the palace, but you get the idea...

Gorgeous gardens on the palace grounds

Our really funny tour guide (from Alessandra's photo perspective). He smiled the whole day (if you didn't know, Japanese people are not known for their smiley ways).

The tour ended at a Handicraft Center. We were able to keep the girls happy shopping for a brief time (while we picked out some wood block paintings) and headed back to our hotel.

We all tried to take naps (some of us were more willing than others). It ended up that Olivia and I went on a side adventure to Aritsugu (a Kyoto knife company). I will blog on my desire for new kitchen knives tomorrow (more photos of Aritsugu to come), but we had a good time checking out the Nishiki Food Market in the process.

Here's Olivia on the subway on the way back from the Market.

We met up with Brad and Alessandra at an incredible Soba restaurant right down the street from our hotel. Buckwheat Soba is one of my most favorite things in Japan - and most places make their own noodles in the shop. This place had a huge window where the guys were making the noodles and you could watch. (yes, I forgot to take a photo... sorry). We were seated in our own little room.

Blurry, but hungry people

In our own little room (or jail, if you look at it that way)

But, I will take jail with Zaru-Soba anytime! (Cold noodles with dipping sauce.. YUM!)

Brad and the girls outside of our haven of yumminess.