A long, lovely day in Kyoto
So I met up with two lovely ladies from an online site I'm on (not OB, haha) and we spent the day lazing around Kyoto together. It was perhaps not the wisest day to choose considering most of Japan has today and Monday off as a national holiday, but we had fun regardless of the crowds (and crowds there were - everywhere!).
We started off our day heading to Kyoto's Kinkakuji, or Golden Pavilion, took some photos and then bused off all the way to Takao for photos of red leaves, which we got in abundance. In between those two places we had some of the absolute worst food I have ever had here in Japan consisting of the soggiest, most unappetizing tempura I have ever eaten on lukewarm rice and a small but horrible bowl of udon that not only took almost an hour to be served but set me back almost $10. Don't ever eat at a famous site when it's a holiday - the restaurants around are way over-priced and not good.
After Takao we were going to head to Arashiyama but it was already past four so we then decided to pass (does it close at 5? I don't know) and took the longest bus ride to Shijo from Takao that lasted an hour and a half in horrible traffic the closer we got to the bustling center of Kyoto. We finally had the bus driver let us off before our stop because it was clear we would get there on foot faster than the bus (and we did!). Note to self: next time don't bother buying a one-day bus pass and just take the bloody train.
At Shijo I proceeded to herd both Diana and Shelby to Random Walk, the English bookstore there, to pick up some much needed new reading material. Diana had to leave to catch her bus so Shelby and I said goodbye to her and proceeded to get lost in the shopping arcade until we found ourselves back at Random Walk almost an hour later somehow. Ravenous, we found our way to a tiny cafe called simply Harry's Cafe, had a very decent dinner (mmm, taco rice!), and proceeded to head home. I immediately started in on my new book, decided that it would be better to read it in steaming hot scented bath water and now here I am sleepy, content, nicely scented, and with a full mug of hot sleepy time tea beside me.
Not a bad day. Pics to come soon.
And as for tomorrow? A day of hangout with my new lovely friend Jeanette, new to Japan and still nervous from it. We'll meet in Umeda for lunch, hang out, and perhaps shopping if I'm stupid enough to spend even more money. Well, we'll see...
We started off our day heading to Kyoto's Kinkakuji, or Golden Pavilion, took some photos and then bused off all the way to Takao for photos of red leaves, which we got in abundance. In between those two places we had some of the absolute worst food I have ever had here in Japan consisting of the soggiest, most unappetizing tempura I have ever eaten on lukewarm rice and a small but horrible bowl of udon that not only took almost an hour to be served but set me back almost $10. Don't ever eat at a famous site when it's a holiday - the restaurants around are way over-priced and not good.
After Takao we were going to head to Arashiyama but it was already past four so we then decided to pass (does it close at 5? I don't know) and took the longest bus ride to Shijo from Takao that lasted an hour and a half in horrible traffic the closer we got to the bustling center of Kyoto. We finally had the bus driver let us off before our stop because it was clear we would get there on foot faster than the bus (and we did!). Note to self: next time don't bother buying a one-day bus pass and just take the bloody train.
At Shijo I proceeded to herd both Diana and Shelby to Random Walk, the English bookstore there, to pick up some much needed new reading material. Diana had to leave to catch her bus so Shelby and I said goodbye to her and proceeded to get lost in the shopping arcade until we found ourselves back at Random Walk almost an hour later somehow. Ravenous, we found our way to a tiny cafe called simply Harry's Cafe, had a very decent dinner (mmm, taco rice!), and proceeded to head home. I immediately started in on my new book, decided that it would be better to read it in steaming hot scented bath water and now here I am sleepy, content, nicely scented, and with a full mug of hot sleepy time tea beside me.
Not a bad day. Pics to come soon.
And as for tomorrow? A day of hangout with my new lovely friend Jeanette, new to Japan and still nervous from it. We'll meet in Umeda for lunch, hang out, and perhaps shopping if I'm stupid enough to spend even more money. Well, we'll see...