Kyoto!!
Friday after work I took a train to Taira (Iwaki) and took a bus to Tokyo with syuria , defined and Susan. The bus got stuck in traffic and Susan ended up calling me at 6:20 to find out if we were coming or not! lol She was worried because the bus was 30 minutes late at that point. So instead of the bus ride to Tokyo being 3 and a half hours, it was just over 4. We got to Tokyo and grabbed some snacks and then went to find our night bus to Kyoto.
The night bus....wasn't bad...but I don't think I will do that again. We were on the bus for just under 8 hours and arrived in Kyoto at 6:30 Saturday morning. The bus let us off at Kyoto Station and we went inside and found a McDonald's to have breakfast. I had a McGriddle meal. It was sooo good! I'd never had one before. I'm not a big McDonald's fan for breakfast...but I may need to make an exception for that.
Then we found our hotel and dropped off our bags and went out to start our day. We went to Kiyumizu temple, but we took our time getting there. We went down this one street, a few blocks long, that had been preserved for historical purposes. So all the buildings had their original store fronts. If it weren't for the cars, it would have been like walking down Kyoto a few hundred years ago! It was awesome.
The way to the temple is full of shops, so we did a lot of window shopping. All the stores have AC and it was really hot! BUT, it wasn't all that humid! So it wasn't so bad. But, we went into a lot of shops and had ice cream and took pictures. I bought myself a bouken (wooden katana) so that I could keep up with my practice. I took a bunch of pictures of swords for my brother, I'm thinking I may go back to Kyoto next year and buy him one. But I want an idea of which sword he would want.
After the temple we headed back to Kyoto station and found a Subway! to have lunch. I haven't had subway in a year! So I had a 6" turkey sub with a side of basil fries and coke. Yes Subway in Japan has fries...or potato wedges, I guess. SO GOOD! lol
Then we went back to our hotel and checked into our rooms and got our beds all set up and cleaned up a bit before heading out to see The Phantom of the Opera! It was amazing! I had forgotten a lot of the details of the musical. The random English words in the songs were sometimes annoying, but over all it was amazing!
Sunday we got up early and went to watch the Gione festival parade! Then we decided we wanted donuts so we went down to the station and got Krispy Creme Donuts. lol Expensive, but good. Then we went to Teramachi to go shopping. It's basically 2 streets and the shops on either side of the streets open up onto the street, like a market. And there is a roof over the street so the weather doesn't affect your shopping. It was HOT but the stores all had AC! Spent 2 hours there and I bought some pants from Nepal!
Next we decided to go watch Harry Potter while it was too hot to be outside instead of in the evening, like we had originally planned. So we went back to Kyoto station and found our way to Aeon Mall. When we ordered our tickets, the movie title visible on the screen didn't completely fit, so intead of Harry Potter: The Deathly Hollows part 2, it read Harry Potter: The Deathly English. As opposed to Japanese, which was also an option. LOL. Well now we know what they really think about English! We had to sit in the front row in order to sit together. The place was packed! lol The movie was a lot of fun! I think I want to see it again :)
After the movie we decided to splurge a bit and went to an American restaurant called Tony Roma's. It's a Steak and Ribs place and I couldn't decide what to get so in the end I just got a really big burger with fries, coleslaw and potato skins. I didn't manage to finish my burger.
We got back to our hotel and cleaned up a bit and then went out to Kareoke for 2 hours :) The night ended around 11:30 and I crawled into bed.
It took 12 hours to get to Kyoto from Iwaki...and only 5 to get home. I took a Shinkansen (bullet train) from Kyoto to Tokyo and then took a train to Ueno station where I got the Special limited Express to Iwaki. I managed to make all my connections and made it home an hour earlier than I had thought I would :)
Now I'm going to go post all my photos on facebook.
If any of you want to see them, friend me. I'm frellnik on facebook
www.facebook.com./frellnik
Just tell me who you are.
Oh yeah, I'm moving in 10 days and I haven't started packing yet. :(
The night bus....wasn't bad...but I don't think I will do that again. We were on the bus for just under 8 hours and arrived in Kyoto at 6:30 Saturday morning. The bus let us off at Kyoto Station and we went inside and found a McDonald's to have breakfast. I had a McGriddle meal. It was sooo good! I'd never had one before. I'm not a big McDonald's fan for breakfast...but I may need to make an exception for that.
Then we found our hotel and dropped off our bags and went out to start our day. We went to Kiyumizu temple, but we took our time getting there. We went down this one street, a few blocks long, that had been preserved for historical purposes. So all the buildings had their original store fronts. If it weren't for the cars, it would have been like walking down Kyoto a few hundred years ago! It was awesome.
The way to the temple is full of shops, so we did a lot of window shopping. All the stores have AC and it was really hot! BUT, it wasn't all that humid! So it wasn't so bad. But, we went into a lot of shops and had ice cream and took pictures. I bought myself a bouken (wooden katana) so that I could keep up with my practice. I took a bunch of pictures of swords for my brother, I'm thinking I may go back to Kyoto next year and buy him one. But I want an idea of which sword he would want.
After the temple we headed back to Kyoto station and found a Subway! to have lunch. I haven't had subway in a year! So I had a 6" turkey sub with a side of basil fries and coke. Yes Subway in Japan has fries...or potato wedges, I guess. SO GOOD! lol
Then we went back to our hotel and checked into our rooms and got our beds all set up and cleaned up a bit before heading out to see The Phantom of the Opera! It was amazing! I had forgotten a lot of the details of the musical. The random English words in the songs were sometimes annoying, but over all it was amazing!
Sunday we got up early and went to watch the Gione festival parade! Then we decided we wanted donuts so we went down to the station and got Krispy Creme Donuts. lol Expensive, but good. Then we went to Teramachi to go shopping. It's basically 2 streets and the shops on either side of the streets open up onto the street, like a market. And there is a roof over the street so the weather doesn't affect your shopping. It was HOT but the stores all had AC! Spent 2 hours there and I bought some pants from Nepal!
Next we decided to go watch Harry Potter while it was too hot to be outside instead of in the evening, like we had originally planned. So we went back to Kyoto station and found our way to Aeon Mall. When we ordered our tickets, the movie title visible on the screen didn't completely fit, so intead of Harry Potter: The Deathly Hollows part 2, it read Harry Potter: The Deathly English. As opposed to Japanese, which was also an option. LOL. Well now we know what they really think about English! We had to sit in the front row in order to sit together. The place was packed! lol The movie was a lot of fun! I think I want to see it again :)
After the movie we decided to splurge a bit and went to an American restaurant called Tony Roma's. It's a Steak and Ribs place and I couldn't decide what to get so in the end I just got a really big burger with fries, coleslaw and potato skins. I didn't manage to finish my burger.
We got back to our hotel and cleaned up a bit and then went out to Kareoke for 2 hours :) The night ended around 11:30 and I crawled into bed.
It took 12 hours to get to Kyoto from Iwaki...and only 5 to get home. I took a Shinkansen (bullet train) from Kyoto to Tokyo and then took a train to Ueno station where I got the Special limited Express to Iwaki. I managed to make all my connections and made it home an hour earlier than I had thought I would :)
Now I'm going to go post all my photos on facebook.
If any of you want to see them, friend me. I'm frellnik on facebook
www.facebook.com./frellnik
Just tell me who you are.
Oh yeah, I'm moving in 10 days and I haven't started packing yet. :(