The Japan Saga: Day Eight

Jun 08, 2008 21:20

The beginning of day eight marked a free morning for us in Kyoto. Because Christian didn't want us wandering around aimlessly, though, he volunteered to take us to see some of the key sites in Kyoto (unless we wanted to wander around aimlessly - guess which one I chose?).


We started with a walk along the Kamo River.



It was very pretty and a little overcast, which I appreciated since that meant it wasn't really hot. Because Kyoto sits in a basin, it's usually very hot in the summer and very cold in the winter, so there was a distinct chance it would have been sticky if it hadn't been overcast. We walked for a bit and then hopped on a train for downtown Kyoto. It was still early, meaning the shops weren't open, so we stopped to see the Yasaka Shrine.



The shrine was across the street from this store, and Christian mentioned the store had changed its logo. Apparently the original logo colors clashed with the shrine so the city made the store change its logo...and the store complied! Very interesting.

The shrine itself was pretty cool, and we were lucky enough to catch one of the priests in his morning ritual. I probably wasn't supposed to take a picture but that didn't occur to me until after I snapped it. Oops.



Yasaka Shrine is next to Maruyama Park. We were a little late to catch all the cherry blossoms but it was still quite pretty.



There was a vendor in the park that sold crepes. I tried one that had different kinds of chocolate along with custard cream - heaven! So, so good.

Walking through Kyoto was a really interesting experience. The city is a mix of traditional and modern architecture existing side by side. However building codes work there, you'll find a shrine next to a retail store next to an apartment building. On the edges of town you'll also find a rice field next to an office building. These two streets, for example, were within a few blocks of each other.






There were also some cool touches on some of the side streets. A lot of homes had straw things hanging outside - they're good luck charms.



There was also a store that had a weird ball hanging outside. Apparently store owners put it up when the first sake of the season is available.



Once the stores opened, we went shopping in Shinkyogoku, one of Kyoto's famous shopping districts. Even in this shopping area we saw small shrines next to retail stores. It was a little disconcerting, and a testament to Kyoto's history and the unique way things develop in Kyoto.



In case you couldn't gather from all of the photos, Kyoto was my favorite city.

Our morning in Kyoto ended with a quick stop by a bakery to grab lunch and then a trip to the Heian Shrine. Unfortunately, it started raining on our way to the shrine and didn't stop while we were there. The shrine was fairly small, considering some of the others we saw, but it was still pretty.



Next up? Osaka Castle. Osaka Castle was built by Hideyoshi and has a giant moat and is very impressive. You can certainly see it from afar and I can see why people were awed and intimidated by the place.






Inside there was a lot of history about the ruling shoguns, especially Hideyoshi. The top of the castle has very ornate decorations; this is one of my favorites.



What was also interesting about this place, and all the museums and historical sites we visited, is that it had a suggested course. Unlike a lot of museums in the U.S. where you walk in and wander wherever you want, the ones we visited in Japan had signs and arrows pointing us in the "best" direction. Things also appeared to be a little more regimented and organized. Stairs were divided into up and down. Or maybe that happens here as well and I just found the phraseology funny.



We finally got out of the wet weather and headed to our hotel: Hotel Shin'Osaka. For the first time on the trip my feet had started to hurt so it was good to be back in the hotel where I could take my shoes off and begin to figure out how I was going to get all of my stuff back to the U.S. :)

Our final dinner was unique. Vicky, the other teacher who leads the EF trips with Shawn, retired this year so this was her last EF trip. Shawn convinced Christian to present Vicky with an Emperor's Special in honor of her retirement - and to tell her that it was a great insult not to eat it. It had octopus and other oddities on it.



Vicky tried her best to put on a game face and just as she was about to dig in Christian presented her with the real going away special - a cream cake. The cake was really good...not surprisingly, I didn't try the other dish so I can't say anything about that one. Ha ha.
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