Friday, February 1, 2008

We stayed toasty warm all night long and slept very well. It snowed in Kyoto overnight, but it was only a light dusting. Our hostess came into take up our bed and place our table and “chairs” back into the center of the room. She then brought breakfast, which was fruit, juice, coffee, salad, a small cup of cereal, bacon, eggs, and bread. She also brought back the little hibachis. We cooked our own breakfast. It went reasonably well. I like bacon very well done. You can’t get bacon well done on a hibachi, so I didn’t eat the bacon. After we were finished with breakfast, we got ready for the day, packed our back packs and checked out. The host insisted on taking pictures of us in front of the ryokan. Off we went to the Imperial Palace.

We knew we were going to be early for the Imperial Palace so Gary had planned to take another stop on the subway but near the Palace hoping that we would see something new or there would be a café to hang out at for a little while. Well, we ended up at the same stop. We were discussing this when a fellow whipped around and asked if he could help us because he was also going to the Imperial Palace. Up the steps, we trooped. It turned out that our assistance was named Mike, came from Lyon, France, works for Vogue Magazine, and was on vacation. It also turned out that since we had been there the day before, we knew exactly how to get there and he didn’t. We got him to the information center and he was able to get on the tour that started at 10 a.m.

It was a well attended tour. It starts off with a video in English. You aren’t allowed inside the Palace buildings. The guide takes you around the grounds on foot and explains each of the buildings. The Palace is still used for some governmental ceremonial type events, but that’s about it. The Emperor and the Empress reside in the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. The guide tried to get us to believe that a main reason for the present day emperor to reside in Tokyo was because of all the tourists; but really it is that the Palace has no electricity or gas – no heat, no air conditioning, no Internet. While we were touring, even though the sky had cleared, it would periodically lightly snow on us. So it was cold. The gardens were beautiful, even in winter. I wished our pond looked so good! The tour lasts about an hour. Once it was over, Mike went on his way for his day of touring that he had planned. Gary and I headed for Kyoto Station. There we put my back pack in a locker and had lunch. After lunch, we decided to start using taxis because we were running out time using the subway. Using the subway meant figuring the route out, making at least one mistake, and walking some distance to the next location. Taxis were in!

Our next site was the Sanjusangendo , a shrine and National Treasure site. The original structure was built in 1164 A.D. and rebuilt after it burned down in 1249 A.D. It’s 390 feet long and 54 feet wide. It houses the 11½ ft high image of Kannon with eleven faces, plus 1,000 human-sized images of Kannon made of wood and plated with gold leaves. It is an amazing thing to see. Pictures weren’t allowed, so I bought some post cards. We spent about 45 minutes there and then took a taxi to the Kyoto Craft Center back in the Guion district. Guess what? It closed in January! But, there were plenty of shops around. We also got to visit the Yasaka Shrine that we did not get to see the day before. We spent about an hour or so in the Guion area visiting various shops and touring the Yasaka Shrine. About an hour before we were due for the Shinkansen back to Tokyo, we caught a taxi for Kyoto Station.

We retrieved my back pack and went to wait for the train. We thought the trains came about every 13 minutes. We went onto the platform at 4:00 p.m. Our train was due at 4:09. A train pulled up and we got on. We knew something was wrong when we found our car to be the smoking car and someone sitting in my seat. We went back out to ask somebody, but the fellow on the train platform motioned for Gary to stay on the train so we did. Sure enough we were on the wrong train. We were on the slower train to Tokyo so it took us 13 minutes longer and cost us our good seats again. Geez.

When we got back to Tokyo, we deposited our stuff at the hotel and then went out for a tempura dinner. It was a different restaurant than I first went to. It was close to Citibank in the Ginza. It was really good and a little cheaper. We had fried ice cream for dessert. That was good!

Thursday, January 31, 2008

 

 

Disaster strikes! We got to Tokyo Station to take the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Kyoto. Our tickets didn’t work. Close examination by security personnel at the station determined that our tickets were a day off. Apparently, when I told the gal at guest relations that I wanted tickets to leave on Thursday for Kyoto, she heard the thirtieth. We ended up at the ticket counter trying to rectify this. It took a long time. At one point, out came three train employees. I looked at Gary and we both thought, “Man, this isn’t good.” They had guest relations on the phone. The lady there said they would take care of it when we got back. Hurray! We bought new tickets, and we were on our way. We were only about 30 minutes later than when we were originally scheduled to be going. So that wasn’t bad – considering. (Note to self – don’t arrange tickets in foreign country while still jet lagged – you miss major errors!)

 

Keiko told me to look for Mount Fuji out the right side of the train after about one hour into the trip and after coming out of a tunnel. We no longer had right side of the train tickets, so Gary got up and went to a place between the cars to get a photo. He was up for almost an hour. Neither one of us ever saw it. Guess we’ll have to go back! ☺

When we got into Kyoto, we went immediately to the information counter to get a map and info on stuff to see and do. It was about 1 p.m. when we got there. One thing we had to do was get my eye glasses fixed. The screw came out of one side. So we found out about a place close by to go to get the glasses fixed. We also found out that we might make a tour of the Imperial Palace if we got there by 1:40 p.m. For only $2.10, I got my glasses fixed and cleaned. Boy, were they clean! We tried our best to get to the Palace in time for the tour, but didn’t make it. At 1:40 p.m. we were just arriving at our subway stop. It was still a little bit of a walk to get to the Palace. We got to the information office on the Palace grounds and arranged to attend the 10 a.m. tour for the next day. We left there to find a place to eat. We located a café just across the street from the Palace grounds. It was over a flower shop and a part of the flower shop. We had a good soup for lunch.

My plan always was to get a taxi to take us to our inn. We had the address and some directions, but I figured it would be easier to let the taxi take us. I hadn’t counted on Boy Scout Gary kicking in! Oh no! We had to find it ourselves. It took the rest of the afternoon, but we did find it. We spent the night at the Motonago Ryokan. I found it using a Japanese Guesthouse website (www.japaneseguesthouse.com). A ryokan is a Japanese style inn. The whole inn is done in traditional Japanese style. The rooms have tatami floors, rice paper doors, lovely gardens, low tables and cushions for seats. We were able to get a room with a private bathroom which had a heated toilet seat! Each guest has their own kimono clad hostess. Our hostess was a very nice young gal. There are only Japanese style bathing rooms. There was one for the men and one for the women. You could reserve one of the rooms for private bathing for 30 minutes. So we did that. You sit on a little stool and soap up and bath and rinse off and then you get in and soak in a very hot wooden bath tub. We had dinner at the ryokan. Our hostess served everything. You cook part of your meal yourself over individual little hibachi type things. You better like fish because the whole dinner was fish. It was very good. While we were in the bath, our hostess went into our bedroom and set up our beds. Our beds were futons on the floor covered with down comforters. Each of us had a little origami figure waiting for us on our pillow. I was worried about being cold, but the room was as toasty warm as we wanted it. The bedding was also toasty warm. I needn’t have worried at all!