Day 1 - Kyoto

Before I get started, you can see photos from all 4 cities of our trip here.

On Boxing Day Mike and I took the Shinkansen down to Kyoto. Since Kyoto is only 2 hours away on the bullet train I picked a slightly later train than our 6am departure to Hiroshima back in October. Plus I was let in on the "secret" of Shinagawa station recently so things were a bit better organised all round really.

We arrived at Kyoto Eki just before lunch time and managed to find the JR bus stop and the next bus to Takahana-cho without too much trouble. As we got further and further away from the centre of Kyoto I could see Mike worrying a bit that we were on the wrong bus. Nope, but our ryokan was a little further out than I think he had realised.

We stayed at Yamazaki Ryokan which is the same place that Mum and Alex stayed in back in May. Our room seemed huge compared with others we've stayed in in Japan and we were both looking forward to sleeping on futons after the uncomfortable beds in Thailand (not to mention a night of no sleep on our flight home). But first we had an afternoon of sightseeing to do!

First stop was Ginkakuji or the Golden Pavilion, which had been recommended not only by Lonely Planet but also a guy we talked to at the Toyota City Showroom in Odaiba back in August (? September?). As promised it was very beautiful, although it probably would've looked a bit nicer had the sky not been so grey and ominous. Still, it was a nice walk around the temple grounds and not too far from our ryokan - only 5 minutes on the bus followed by a 5 minute walk.

Unfortunately the weather decided to pack in around this point and we saw Gion and Ponto-cho in the pouring rain. Taking the bus from downtown Kyoto to the station reminded me so much of bussing home in Wellington, I felt a little bit homesick! Something to do with hot, stuffy busses and wet roads with everyone around you just waiting for the ride to end. Kyoto was cold and wet but at least the train station had a shopping mall and hundreds of restaurants! Unfortunately we were a little early, and it was a bit wet, to see and geishas or maiko, but Ponto-cho was a nice walk (despite the rain!) and we had a fortifying starbucks coffee overlooking the river at the end of the afternoon too.

Dinner was okonomiyaki at Kyoto Station. Mike was in Heaven. Actually, so was I - it was delicious!