10 March 2012
Kyoto
As the title says, today I went to Kyoto. When I woke up the sun was actually shining so I thought I better make the most of it.
Kyoto is a 20 minute train ride from Osaka, its also the most popular tourist destination in Japan. I liked it, the city is very nice surrounded by hills with a mix of old, faux old, and shiny new.
Since I took a lot of photos, I will type crap next to them rather than here.
Arriving at Kyoto station, at first I was dissapointed. I had read about how awesome the new station was, but it looks pretty crappy from here.
However once you get into the building alongside the station which is actually a shopping mall, its quite impressive, not Chinese impressive though.
Its actually an Isetan department store, you can go up the outside of it onto the roof, 10 floors up.
Which of course gives you a great view, enjoy my crooked horizon. Also for some reason they put tinted glass on the barriers.
I found a way to get out onto the helicopter landing pad. No helicopters came whilst I was there.
The nearby Kyoto tower must be really struggling for visitors since they built the equally high station next to it, obscuring its view.
The outside of the station. Thats probably enough train station photos.
The city of Kyoto is basically a giant theme park for shrines and temples. You cant go more then a few hundred metres without coming to another one.
I dont really know which are old and which are new recreations of old. I think this one is new since you dont have to pay to get in.
Faux shrine is setting up for a concert for the tsunami anniversary.
This is one of the gates to the imperial palace gardens. Apparently this is the reserve palace for the emperor in case Tokyo gets destroyed again.
Which means you cant see the palace at all, unless you are invited. You cant get a glimpse through a gate, over a wall, nothing. That would cheapen it for the invited people who get to witness the magical powers of the Japanese royal family. They can fly and transform into cuddly toys and/or flying robots.
Over the road from the fenced off hidden imperial palace is a faux shrine. This one has many wedding halls around it and you can pay to have your photos taken etc.
This is a real castle...Nijo castle. No photos allowed inside cause it has 500 year old fabric paintings. You have to take your shoes off and put ridiculous slippers on that no one (especially me) could get to stay on their feet.
You are allowed to take photos of the garden area.
From this lookout you can see most of the single level castle. Also look closely and you can see a blimp flying above.
There are all kinds of blossoms blossoming here. And people taking photos of them excitedly.
Todays ramen came with bonus special fried rice. Ordering was more difficult than normal, despite pointing at main picture on the card handed to me, the girl came back 10 minutes later with the card at which I pointed again. She told me something about it, so I literally told her to bring anything thats hot. Not that she understood, but she did nod and smile.
In the end I got what I ordered.