Day 4 - Kansei to Kyoto
Breakfast at MacDonalds - yes MacDonalds. We did try to get croissants at a restaurant in the departure terminal but a group of 40 odd girls before us took them all. Oh well - it actually tasted pretty good.
Around 10.00am the PLC Group arrived by bus after their day trip to Kyoto. We meet them at the departure lounge and grabbed Nicole.
Around 10.40 we said goodbye and strolled back to the Hotel to collect our bags and meet our guide to Kyoto - Yumi. Yumi was so helpful. We had a good idea of the trains by now but she really helped with saving us money by pointing out we could keep using our JR Rail Passes. The Passes are fantastic as was the Shinkansen to Kyoto.
Kyoto Station is amazing - it has this really high roof that looks like lattice. Apparently it takes 12 minutes on stairs and escalators to get to the top.
Anyway, Yumi helped us with catching taxis to the ANA Hotel about 10 minutes away.
After a short rest at the hotel we decided to head to Teramachi shopping arcade - for the first time. Teramachi is a kilometre long arcade with small shops on either side. About 50m to the east side is another arcade a kilometre long and toward the South end is a giant department store and the Nishi Food market.
We spent nearly two hours walking the shops then headed a few blocks to the East for dinner at Four Seasons that serves a variety of Japanese cuisines including Sukiyaki and Sushi. Kim ordered this really nice Egg Roll. Phil had Sukiyaki. Bec and Cole ordered Teriyaki Chicken. We all shared.
The subway was easy to get around with and there was a European style bakery at the station. We grab some stuff for breakfast before catching the train back to our hotel near Nijo Castle.
PLC at Kansei / Kyoto Station / Nijo Castle Garden
Nijo Castle next to ANA Hotel / Golden Pavilion / Teramachi Shopping
Photo in Teramachi / Tea Ceremony at Gion Corner
This morning was our full day tour including Kyoto and an afternoon to Nara. First stop was Nijo Castle which we simply walked to from the hotel. Very different to the concept of a European Castle. More of a nice mansion than a fortress. Still it had some really clever defences like the nightingale floors that squeaked when you walked on them.
We then boarded our bus to the Golden Pavilion which is a Shinto Shrine covered in gold. Most Shinto shrines are very basic but this one is the exception.
We then moved onto the Imperial Palace where we had to line up in rows four abreast to be checked by the security guards. Big place this Imperial Palace and it makes you realise the importance of the monarchy when you see all this space at a Palace and compare it to the crowded living space of the rest of the people.
Back onto the bus and off to the Handicrafts centre and lunch. Because we were booked on the afternoon Nara tour we only had 40 minutes for lunch and to look at six floors of handicrafts. We tried to change to the afternoon Kyoto tour to avoid more time on the bus - at least we'd have had another 50 minutes to check out the store - but that was booked out. We were then stuck with no tour that afternoon so we just spent time at the store and headed back to the hotel.
That evening we headed back to Teramachi to check out the Food market and also the big department store. Dinner at MacDonalds for the girls and Phil tried the local Mos Burger - it was ok.
A short walk to the east had us at Gion Corner - as Kim calls it "Diagon Alley". Really nice little street and at the corner is a theatre that features 6 different styles of traditional Japanese entertainment. It started with a Tea Ceremony. Kim and Nicole were selected from the audience to drink the tea. Then we had some music, some flower arranging, theatrical dancing, a comedy, a puppet show and a traditional / formal dance. This is well worth visiting but get there early for a good seat.
We headed back to the ANA Hotel by walking up the Teramachi - again! I guess we walked it again because we had the subway worked out and never felt in danger or threatened - in fact it felt like the safest place we'd ever been to. Also, the next day we had managed to get rebooked onto the Nara tour so we could have a little sleep in - the first of the trip so far.