Days 4,5 &6 - Kyoto (Oct 25-27)
Oct 25 - Day 4
I didn’t sleep very well, the new hotel wasn’t so glamorous and I think there were some drunks out on the streets because the noise pretty much kept me awake the entire night. I finally got up around 8:30 or so and we got ready for check out and our trip to Kyoto.
The weather was definitely against us as we fought heavy rain the entire day. We thought we would ask the hotel to hold our luggage for us and visit Ikebukuro, but decided against it since walking in the pouring rain wasn’t my idea of fun, as much as I do love the rain. Unfortunately the train ride to Kyoto wasn’t much either since lovers’ spats tend to put a damper on the mood.
When we arrived in Kyoto, it was next to impossible to locate the hotel. Even with the map we had and my language skills, it seemed we were doomed from the start. This day was not going well so far. I was also getting frustrated because it seemed that I was pretty much doing everything, asking for directions, carrying bags and a map meanwhile Eero was more or less just being there. I finally got to the point where my frustration let loose and our little spat from earlier turned into a full-blown argument. I couldn’t let that get the better of me because I wanted to find this hotel fast as my clothes were starting to become soaked. Fortunately a very nice old woman (who even could speak some English) told us that we had actually passed the street that we were supposed to turn on and gave us pretty decent instructions to the hotel. And not a moment too soon because the heavens opened up and drenched us good.
When we got to our room (which was on the fourth floor with no elevator....ugh), we managed to somehow put our differences aside and make the most of the day. I’m more or less used to by now putting my own feelings aside, not telling anyone anything until it turns into acute gastritis, so we did just that, though I have my guard up a bit.
After resting, and waiting for the rain to calm down a bit (turned out there was a typhoon that hit nearby - not the one that hit the Philippines) we headed out to Pontocho which is known for geisha and traditional tea houses. It’s also Kyoto’s “restaurant row”. It’s very characteristic and quaint, it’s just a shame it was raining still because I didn't take many pictures. We found a restaurant where you could grill your own meat at your table. Eero really wanted to try one of those restaurants and being a beef girl myself, I was certainly down for that. I have to say the meat was on a completely other level that what we were both used to. It literally just melted in your mouth with an explosion of flavor. It was also quite delicate. I don’t know if I could say it’s better than TX beef, it’s just different. Okay, it’s definitely of another caliber, and much more delicate than what we have, but I liked both just as equally. It wasn’t cheap though. We spent a little over 100€ (somewhere around 15,000¥) but it’s our honeymoon, we should have at least one extravagant meal. I’d much rather spend that on a delicious dinner than a hotel, but that’s just me. Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel, since the weather didn’t really allow for us to explore more. And wouldn’t you know, we got lost...AGAIN!! We walked in the wrong direction when we got off the bus....le sigh.
Oct 26 - Day 5
Stomach cramps woke me up around 5am, but I managed to get back to sleep for a couple more hours. I actually dreamt about my friends back in Philadelphia and I made a note to send an email to one of the pastors there which I never did actually send...whoopsie. We found a cafe at the end of the street and decided to pick up some pastries and such for breakfast. They were soooo good. The plan for today was to see Nijo Castle, Kinkakuji (the Golden Pavilion) and a bunch of other temples.
We arrived at Nijō-jō and our breath was taken away. It’s so beautiful and the architecture...well Asian architecture is easy to recognize and very unique. Unfortunately, most of the rooms inside of the castle were not allowed to be photographed to preserve the wallpapers and paintings, but the rooms are absolutely immaculate. Definitely should visit this place. Each room had its specific purpose and so many too boot. There were also mannequins depicting each rooms’ purpose. The gardens were spectacular and gorgeous and you could even see the fall colors trying to come in. Typically, in the south of Japan, Fall comes around the middle to end of November, so we missed it by a couple weeks. I notice that I’m starting to get a small tension headache, but I dismiss it since I want to be able to see as much as possible (not to mention we left our painkillers in the hotel room like a bunch of idiots).
We headed off next to the Golden Pavilion (Kinkakuji). Around this time I can feel my headache starting to build and I’m getting a bit nervous though it’s nothing new for me. My health is often times seriously affected by the weather and since I was young I’ve been sensitive to pressure changes in the air which usually results in a migraine. I hope that this isn’t the case, but the situation doesn’t seem to be a good one. Anyways, when we arrived, we met a girl who asked if we speak English. She then introduced herself as Momoya (Momo for short which means peach...sooo cute) and asked if she could give us a tour for free as a part of her university studies. We were more than happy to receive additional information about the pavilion and gladly welcomed her to be our guide. As we talked and got to know each other a bit, it turns out that she’s very interested in Finland and Muumi and would even like to do an exchange here, so we swapped contact information and sure enough she even emailed me that same evening. She was very nice and sweet and she really knew a lot about Kinkakuji. I’m glad we were able to learn more from her. It would be nice if she is able to come to Finland for some time so we can return the favor and be her tour guide in Helsinki.
Trying out some filters - I like it.
Painted with actual gold, y'all.
Heading back towards the city, I can feel that I now I have full on migraine. If you’ve never experienced a migraine, it’s not something that can be compared to a regular headache. The pain is so severe and debilitating that moving an inch feels like moving a mile. Nausea, photophobia, phonophobia and even sometimes vomiting for me are just too much to bear, especially now that I’m in a foreign country with quite basic language skills. Eero was feeling hungry, so we stopped at a Mickey D’s which was near the bus station, but I wasn’t able to stomach anything down. I really feel like I just need to get into a cold, dark room and sleep. Trying not to cry in public, Eero insisted that we head back to the hotel and call it a day. Not only physically am I feeling bad, but now emotionally because there were still so many other places I wanted to go to and it wasn’t even that late. Eero put his foot down and when I asked him for a plastic bag so I could throw up, he took it upon himself to ask (with his very limited, but oh so cute Japanese language skills) how to get back to the hotel area. A nice old man who was headed in the same direction said we could follow him. I think he could tell I wasn’t feeling well, by this time I’m not able to hold the tears back anymore, and he tried to make small talk. I politely obliged him, but I really wanted to just keep to myself. We made it back to the hotel and by now I really feel like I’m going to die. I managed to call our hotel in Osaka and push back our reservation one day. We were also able to stay an extra night in our hotel room in Kyoto (since the old jii-san who owns it said we should stay at least 4 days but 3 is okay) and headed up the treacherous 4 flights of stairs. Only having Paracetamol on hand, I took 1g (which is equal to 4 Tylenol), prayed that I didn’t throw up and went to sleep.
Oct 27 - Day 6
I slept on and off around 6 hours and woke up around 1:30am. My migraine finally at bay, only now a slight tension headache again, I took another gram of paracetamol and used Eero’s tablet to browse Plurk (since I had nothing better to do). I fell back asleep around 4:30am. We woke up around 9:30 and headed out for our last day of sightseeing in Kyoto. I was really thankful that I managed to get an extra day. There were still so many things I wanted to see, but had to settle for the most important for our last day.
We first made our way to Kyomizudera, a very important shrine in Japan. Mizu means water...anyways, I think the name has something to do with sacred water. There’s 3 waterfalls which each signify a certain attribute (sound mind, prosperous relationships and beauty) and you can drink from which ever fountain(s) you like, though if you drink from all three, you’re considered greedy. Being a Christian, I was a bit wary of participating in such a ritual, but this was sort of a grey area, there are no gods being worshipped here, so we thought it would be good fun. We both drank from the ‘sound mind’ waterfall. On our way back to the bus stop, we got some ice cream (chestnut flavor for me and ramune flavor for Eero) and other snacks which were absolutely delicious. I’m feeling definitely better than the previous day, but still somehow off, which for me is normal after a migraine that the next day I don’t want to be out and about.
After Kyomizudera, we had lunch at a Japanese fast-food burger place. It was pretty decent. I had a teriyaki burger with egg, yuuuum. After lunch we headed towards the Fushimi Inari Shrine, which was something I really wanted to see; though I’m not a devotee of Inari, I can definitely appreciate the historical and aesthetical aspects of the shrine. It’s beautiful, decorated with statues of foxes nearly everywhere (Foxes being Inari’s messengers). It’s just unquestionably magnificent. We walked through the Senbon Torii (or 1000 gates) about halfway. We were too out of shape and a bit tired to walk through all 1000. It’s somewhere around a 6km hike uphill...sorry, no thank you. We also found a Yukata for both Eero and myself. I, of course, had to get a purple floral one. Eventually I’ll take a picture in it.
We got back to the hotel around 3:30 and decided to rest for a bit before heading out for our last stretch. The Nishiki Market and Gion were last on our list for Kyoto (though there were tons that we weren’t able to visit). We arrived at Nishiki Market around 5:30 or so, and surprisingly most of the market was closed. I suppose since it’s an open air market and the people are coming from the countryside to sell their goods, it makes sense that they’d want to get home earlier, but I was a bit disappointed. We also had omurice omelets which seemed massive; I was barely able to finish my portion. We still managed to walk around the market and up the main road towards Gion which is the famous Geisha district. I was on the hunt for one (or Maiko) to take a ninja picture (since we’re too poor to have an evening with them), but luck was somewhat not on my side. I did manage to take a picture, but my ninja picture taking jutsu needs refinement. The area of Gion however is like out of a movie. It’s clearly kept it’s historical picturesque feel to it and has been maintained as such for hundreds of years. I really felt like I was in the Tokugawa period. After hanging out there and realizing that we probably weren’t going to be able to afford anything, we headed back to the hotel to turn in for the night.
Yeah my last two pictures suck oh well, they have character XP
Christmas is coming up, I'll be spending it with the in-laws...not sure if I'll post about it or not. We'll see.
I didn’t sleep very well, the new hotel wasn’t so glamorous and I think there were some drunks out on the streets because the noise pretty much kept me awake the entire night. I finally got up around 8:30 or so and we got ready for check out and our trip to Kyoto.
The weather was definitely against us as we fought heavy rain the entire day. We thought we would ask the hotel to hold our luggage for us and visit Ikebukuro, but decided against it since walking in the pouring rain wasn’t my idea of fun, as much as I do love the rain. Unfortunately the train ride to Kyoto wasn’t much either since lovers’ spats tend to put a damper on the mood.
When we arrived in Kyoto, it was next to impossible to locate the hotel. Even with the map we had and my language skills, it seemed we were doomed from the start. This day was not going well so far. I was also getting frustrated because it seemed that I was pretty much doing everything, asking for directions, carrying bags and a map meanwhile Eero was more or less just being there. I finally got to the point where my frustration let loose and our little spat from earlier turned into a full-blown argument. I couldn’t let that get the better of me because I wanted to find this hotel fast as my clothes were starting to become soaked. Fortunately a very nice old woman (who even could speak some English) told us that we had actually passed the street that we were supposed to turn on and gave us pretty decent instructions to the hotel. And not a moment too soon because the heavens opened up and drenched us good.
When we got to our room (which was on the fourth floor with no elevator....ugh), we managed to somehow put our differences aside and make the most of the day. I’m more or less used to by now putting my own feelings aside, not telling anyone anything until it turns into acute gastritis, so we did just that, though I have my guard up a bit.
After resting, and waiting for the rain to calm down a bit (turned out there was a typhoon that hit nearby - not the one that hit the Philippines) we headed out to Pontocho which is known for geisha and traditional tea houses. It’s also Kyoto’s “restaurant row”. It’s very characteristic and quaint, it’s just a shame it was raining still because I didn't take many pictures. We found a restaurant where you could grill your own meat at your table. Eero really wanted to try one of those restaurants and being a beef girl myself, I was certainly down for that. I have to say the meat was on a completely other level that what we were both used to. It literally just melted in your mouth with an explosion of flavor. It was also quite delicate. I don’t know if I could say it’s better than TX beef, it’s just different. Okay, it’s definitely of another caliber, and much more delicate than what we have, but I liked both just as equally. It wasn’t cheap though. We spent a little over 100€ (somewhere around 15,000¥) but it’s our honeymoon, we should have at least one extravagant meal. I’d much rather spend that on a delicious dinner than a hotel, but that’s just me. Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel, since the weather didn’t really allow for us to explore more. And wouldn’t you know, we got lost...AGAIN!! We walked in the wrong direction when we got off the bus....le sigh.
Oct 26 - Day 5
Stomach cramps woke me up around 5am, but I managed to get back to sleep for a couple more hours. I actually dreamt about my friends back in Philadelphia and I made a note to send an email to one of the pastors there which I never did actually send...whoopsie. We found a cafe at the end of the street and decided to pick up some pastries and such for breakfast. They were soooo good. The plan for today was to see Nijo Castle, Kinkakuji (the Golden Pavilion) and a bunch of other temples.
We arrived at Nijō-jō and our breath was taken away. It’s so beautiful and the architecture...well Asian architecture is easy to recognize and very unique. Unfortunately, most of the rooms inside of the castle were not allowed to be photographed to preserve the wallpapers and paintings, but the rooms are absolutely immaculate. Definitely should visit this place. Each room had its specific purpose and so many too boot. There were also mannequins depicting each rooms’ purpose. The gardens were spectacular and gorgeous and you could even see the fall colors trying to come in. Typically, in the south of Japan, Fall comes around the middle to end of November, so we missed it by a couple weeks. I notice that I’m starting to get a small tension headache, but I dismiss it since I want to be able to see as much as possible (not to mention we left our painkillers in the hotel room like a bunch of idiots).
We headed off next to the Golden Pavilion (Kinkakuji). Around this time I can feel my headache starting to build and I’m getting a bit nervous though it’s nothing new for me. My health is often times seriously affected by the weather and since I was young I’ve been sensitive to pressure changes in the air which usually results in a migraine. I hope that this isn’t the case, but the situation doesn’t seem to be a good one. Anyways, when we arrived, we met a girl who asked if we speak English. She then introduced herself as Momoya (Momo for short which means peach...sooo cute) and asked if she could give us a tour for free as a part of her university studies. We were more than happy to receive additional information about the pavilion and gladly welcomed her to be our guide. As we talked and got to know each other a bit, it turns out that she’s very interested in Finland and Muumi and would even like to do an exchange here, so we swapped contact information and sure enough she even emailed me that same evening. She was very nice and sweet and she really knew a lot about Kinkakuji. I’m glad we were able to learn more from her. It would be nice if she is able to come to Finland for some time so we can return the favor and be her tour guide in Helsinki.
Trying out some filters - I like it.
Painted with actual gold, y'all.
Heading back towards the city, I can feel that I now I have full on migraine. If you’ve never experienced a migraine, it’s not something that can be compared to a regular headache. The pain is so severe and debilitating that moving an inch feels like moving a mile. Nausea, photophobia, phonophobia and even sometimes vomiting for me are just too much to bear, especially now that I’m in a foreign country with quite basic language skills. Eero was feeling hungry, so we stopped at a Mickey D’s which was near the bus station, but I wasn’t able to stomach anything down. I really feel like I just need to get into a cold, dark room and sleep. Trying not to cry in public, Eero insisted that we head back to the hotel and call it a day. Not only physically am I feeling bad, but now emotionally because there were still so many other places I wanted to go to and it wasn’t even that late. Eero put his foot down and when I asked him for a plastic bag so I could throw up, he took it upon himself to ask (with his very limited, but oh so cute Japanese language skills) how to get back to the hotel area. A nice old man who was headed in the same direction said we could follow him. I think he could tell I wasn’t feeling well, by this time I’m not able to hold the tears back anymore, and he tried to make small talk. I politely obliged him, but I really wanted to just keep to myself. We made it back to the hotel and by now I really feel like I’m going to die. I managed to call our hotel in Osaka and push back our reservation one day. We were also able to stay an extra night in our hotel room in Kyoto (since the old jii-san who owns it said we should stay at least 4 days but 3 is okay) and headed up the treacherous 4 flights of stairs. Only having Paracetamol on hand, I took 1g (which is equal to 4 Tylenol), prayed that I didn’t throw up and went to sleep.
Oct 27 - Day 6
I slept on and off around 6 hours and woke up around 1:30am. My migraine finally at bay, only now a slight tension headache again, I took another gram of paracetamol and used Eero’s tablet to browse Plurk (since I had nothing better to do). I fell back asleep around 4:30am. We woke up around 9:30 and headed out for our last day of sightseeing in Kyoto. I was really thankful that I managed to get an extra day. There were still so many things I wanted to see, but had to settle for the most important for our last day.
We first made our way to Kyomizudera, a very important shrine in Japan. Mizu means water...anyways, I think the name has something to do with sacred water. There’s 3 waterfalls which each signify a certain attribute (sound mind, prosperous relationships and beauty) and you can drink from which ever fountain(s) you like, though if you drink from all three, you’re considered greedy. Being a Christian, I was a bit wary of participating in such a ritual, but this was sort of a grey area, there are no gods being worshipped here, so we thought it would be good fun. We both drank from the ‘sound mind’ waterfall. On our way back to the bus stop, we got some ice cream (chestnut flavor for me and ramune flavor for Eero) and other snacks which were absolutely delicious. I’m feeling definitely better than the previous day, but still somehow off, which for me is normal after a migraine that the next day I don’t want to be out and about.
After Kyomizudera, we had lunch at a Japanese fast-food burger place. It was pretty decent. I had a teriyaki burger with egg, yuuuum. After lunch we headed towards the Fushimi Inari Shrine, which was something I really wanted to see; though I’m not a devotee of Inari, I can definitely appreciate the historical and aesthetical aspects of the shrine. It’s beautiful, decorated with statues of foxes nearly everywhere (Foxes being Inari’s messengers). It’s just unquestionably magnificent. We walked through the Senbon Torii (or 1000 gates) about halfway. We were too out of shape and a bit tired to walk through all 1000. It’s somewhere around a 6km hike uphill...sorry, no thank you. We also found a Yukata for both Eero and myself. I, of course, had to get a purple floral one. Eventually I’ll take a picture in it.
We got back to the hotel around 3:30 and decided to rest for a bit before heading out for our last stretch. The Nishiki Market and Gion were last on our list for Kyoto (though there were tons that we weren’t able to visit). We arrived at Nishiki Market around 5:30 or so, and surprisingly most of the market was closed. I suppose since it’s an open air market and the people are coming from the countryside to sell their goods, it makes sense that they’d want to get home earlier, but I was a bit disappointed. We also had omurice omelets which seemed massive; I was barely able to finish my portion. We still managed to walk around the market and up the main road towards Gion which is the famous Geisha district. I was on the hunt for one (or Maiko) to take a ninja picture (since we’re too poor to have an evening with them), but luck was somewhat not on my side. I did manage to take a picture, but my ninja picture taking jutsu needs refinement. The area of Gion however is like out of a movie. It’s clearly kept it’s historical picturesque feel to it and has been maintained as such for hundreds of years. I really felt like I was in the Tokugawa period. After hanging out there and realizing that we probably weren’t going to be able to afford anything, we headed back to the hotel to turn in for the night.
Yeah my last two pictures suck oh well, they have character XP
Christmas is coming up, I'll be spending it with the in-laws...not sure if I'll post about it or not. We'll see.