Summer 3

Sunday afternoon (August 17th - I seem to have a hard time keeping this blog current) we headed into Tokyo. we wandered around Akihabara for a bit, seeing some things that were entertaining, and others that were somewhat disturbing. Went to Shinjuku and caught the overnight bus to Kyoto.

In the morning, we walked the 3 km to the hostel, left our backpacks and grabbed showers. Found a delicious if expensive bakery for breakfast, and then rented bicycles.

First we checked out Nijo Castle - really more of a fortified palace than a true military stronghold - residence of Shoguns and Emperors. Famous for its nightingale floors - designed to creak when stepped on just to warn of intruders. I imagined they were just squeaky, but there's a actual mechanism that creates a distinct chirping sound. (The wikipedia link to the floors has a soundfile, but there's too much background noise - when you're walking, it really does sound like chirping.) L was clearly quite taken with the natural scenery.

(I admit that I framed the shot to make him look like a perv - he claims to have been taking a photo of something else entirely.)

Afterwards, we passed through Kitano Tenman-gu and up to Kinkaku-ji - the golden pavilion. It actually is coated in gold leaf, and shines very nicely in the blazing hot Kyoto sun. If I didn't mention it before, it was really hot - I think I lost weight just from all the sweating.

Anyway, I'd read in the Lonely Planet: Hiking in Japan about a hiking trail up the mountain (hill really) behind Kinkaku-ji, so we went looking for it. Spent an hour or so bushwhacking, and eventually gave up after finding nothing more than old trails in the wrong directions and a LOT of spider webs. (Turns out the trail started from Ginkaku-ji - the SILVER pavilion - across town - my mistake!)

At this point, we were hungry, and since L was feeling adventurous, we (eventually, after I got to practice asking directions in Japanese) found a kaitenzushi restaurant. I really enjoy kaitenzushi - it's cheap, convenient, quick and you can get exactly what you want. Before he came to Japan, L was a vegetarian. He tried salmon, tuna, BBQ'd freshwater eel (unagi) and was pretty unimpressed by all of them! Acquired tastes, I guess. Although he did tell me that during  some of his later culinary adventures he was wishing for something as normal as salmon or tuna!!! He did gain a liking for inarizushi (agezushi for some of us) though.

After, we headed up to Kiyomizu-dera, another famous Kyoto temple (there are lots) and then down around Kyoto's downtown for a bit.

Since we were a bit short on sleep (overnight buses generally aren't bad, but I certainly wouldn't rate them among the best sleeps of my life on them) we headed back to the hostel, cooked some pasta, and crashed for the night.

Pictures of Tokyo and Kyoto are here.