A Kyoto Dream!
Kyoto Tower & Nijo Castle!
Hello Kyoto! Good Morning! Today - Steve woke up in our hotel ready to take on the day. I have to admit that I have been terrible to get up in the morning. Two reasons - a) I have never been nor will I ever be a morning person and b) as I mentioned in my previous post I've been burning the midnight oil with the photos and keeping up with blogs... so I've been a bit of a grizzly lion most of the mornings since we arrived in Japan.
The previous evening when we had purchased our salads from FAMILYMART, I also anticipated a grizzly morning wake up and had also included a Starbucks iced coffee drink when buying dinner for this morning. So, first thing I ingested this Starbucks caffeinated beverage to get me going... Steve just detests how slow I am in the morning, but I think he has just come to accept that I will just get there... eventually...and no amount of huffing and puffing and grumpiness on his part will make me move any faster. Steve was keen to get moving this morning and eventually I joined him at least physically if not in spirit yet (as my brain was still asleep) on our search for breakfast yet again. Since our hotel was directly across from the station and we found a small and cosy café to eat at. I ordered a small petite stack of pancakes with maple syrup and as usual wild horses couldn't keep Steve away from his blessed fried eggs. The coffee at the café was quite ordinary (I have to admit that apart from Starbucks, the coffee has thus far been terrible in most places in Japan and with the small exception of the Café Veloce we had breakfast at in Tokyo.) Nevertheless, after breakfast we were off through the station and out the other side towards the Kyoto Tower.
I think these days, many major cities have one and the Kyoto Tower although old (opened in 1964 I think) boasts views all the way to Osaka (on a clear day). It was a relatively inexpensive excursion at roughly $15 AUD for the both of us. I think we spent more in Berlin and Sydney for the privilege of similar views. Steve and I spent some time up there taking pictures and walking around the deck admiring the view. At a moment in time, I decided I needed to go to the bathroom and its always so surprising to find one at those heights, however what I didn't expect when using the facilities to feel like I was on a boat out at sea! Really, it shouldn't have been a surprise, but I guess you forget that these towers have structural engineers doing their calculations over and over again and creating these marvels with materials that are strong, but flexible enough to endure movements of any kind (in particular in Japan where the country is divided almost straight through the middle with a line of seismic activity and movement). As I meditated in my moment the room swayed gently to and fro... ;o)
After our tower experience, Steve and I were still craving a decent cup of coffee and had the previous day discovered a Starbucks just around the corner from the tower. Efficiently, we made our way and ordered a Grande latte to share and some snacks and sat down with our maps and Lonely Planet to decide what to do for the rest of the day. Steve is a big fan of Castles and quickly decided that we should head towards Nijo Castle. As usual, Steve and I enjoy walking a city to death so we took off on foot towards the castle.
The day was warm so it took us a while to get there, but once there we stood back and admired it with awe. Steve always has more patience we these things and tends to wander around and look at every detail and every corner whereas I tend to sift through what interests me and bypass the detail and what doesn't take my fancy. We wandered around the gardens for quite some time taking pictures and when finished sat down in an under cover pavilion of sorts and planned what to do next. Steve has been keenly reading through our Lonely Planet book on Japan and picking up on details and things we should do. On that topic, he had read that there are Geisha shows scheduled in Tokyo depending on the season. We had enquired that morning with our concierge at the hotel if they could organise a booking for this show. There are a number of seat options - normal, special seat and a special seat with a tea ceremony. Given we had opted for the normal seat, we were informed that a booking would not be required and that we should just turn up 15 mins prior to the performance.
From Nijo Castle, we caught the subway (our first ride on the subway in Kyoto) to the nearest station to the Pontocho Theatre. After getting off the subway, we headed towards the location of the show (it was after 3pm) and we had allowed for time to get lost along the way. Eventually we did find it after some wandering around, but also discovered a wonderful part of town on Pontocho Dori (street). It was a very narrow alley way almost that was lined with quaint places to eat and drink at. Anyway, we purchased our tickets and sat down for the show. I guess - we didn't know what to expect quite honestly. All stories on Geisha describe them as talented entertainers very proficient in their art of dance and music. The show was very interesting and special if not for the story line (as it was in Japanese) but the decorative outfits worn by the cast. I wish I had some photos to put up, but as in all theatres photography or video recording is prohibited so the performance will last in our memories..
Steve and I had kind of skipped lunch after our snack at Starbucks earlier that day and were again in a state of hunger after leaving the theatre. As it has been the last few nights, we wander around for what seems like ever looking for food. From Pontocho Street, we walked towards some of the more prominent shopping districts in central Kyoto. We were not sure what to expect, but on arrival we certainly didn't expect what we came across. The shopping mall was a number of long arcades that seem to go on forever and Steve and I walked back and forth inspecting them while on the hunt for food. As we got hungrier our search for food got a little more desperate and we again wandered around for what seemed like an eternity looking for something that suited our tastes. By chance, as we had stumbled on in Tokyo some nights back - we found a food court area boasting some restaurants on different levels. At the street level and young gentleman was employed to entice customers to the restaurant he worked for and we were quickly ushered into an elevator to a restaurant neither of us would have found or known about. When we got to the appropriate floor, we stepped out of the elevator and into an abyss. The restaurant was lit up in a dim blue light with wall to wall aquariums full of fish.
As we were ushered into a booth, we were introduced to a new way of ordering food using a tablet. Steve and I generally embrace technology so we just held our breath and started to scroll through our menu options. I have to say that this restaurant was really a lucky mistake because the food was absolutely delicious and Steve and I ordered a number of small appetisers instead of mains and drowned ourselves in Sake and Plum wine. YUM! Thoroughly satisfied, we paid our bill and stepped out into the street to head back towards our hotel. Great thing about Kyoto is that because of the tower and its location in relation to our hotel, we navigated back towards to the hotel using this landmark and eventually found our way to the hotel. All in all a very productive and interesting day...and lasting memories.
Tired and ready to rest we curled up into our brick like bed to get some rest for our next day in Kyoto!
Oyasuminasai!
