Kyoto
Ok finally I am at a point where I can continue updating this journal/blog/mess. I have been wrestling my computer trying to get it to do what I want and have finally succeeded. After a full week of work, I am just now settling in.
Kyoto: A city of tradition meets modern; a place where relics of the past stand before glimmering windows of shiny new buildings. Ok enough with the poetical essay-type speechisms… The tour group and I spent the morning in Takayama. Attractions included the morning market, and a bit of sight-seeing. After that we hopped a train for Nagoya, which took quite a while! We then transferred to the infamous shinkansen, or bullet train. We had reserved seats in the car that had that electrical transmission power box thing, so the whole trip was a buzzin.
It was about an hour to Kyoto I think, and then we hopped off the bullet train quick as you please. Kyoto station…wow.
This place was something else, only about 6 years old so it was pretty much brand spanking new. Full of eccentric sculptures, fantastic architecture, neat looking people, and did I mention that it is HUGE?
Directly following the station we walked to our ryokan, which was less than 10 min walk from the station. Nice little place, there was a little lobby up front that you could sit and read the newspaper or whatever. The task of locating our rooms was not an easy one…the place was a maze! Tiny hallways in which you needed to watch your head, a little bridge in a minature outdoor area in the center of the building, a small kitchen area, and INTERNET ACCESS! I was able to update some blog stuff from that place later on.
Anyway the rest of the group went to see kyomizu ( I think it was called, I may correct that later) or “Pure Water Temple.” I didn’t go to this because I was waiting to meet my Japanese mom for the first time, and her sister and daughter. Midoka was the first to arrive on the scene ( the scene being the front door of the ryokan) followed instantly by Yutaka and Shoko. We greeted eachother quite enthusiastically, and I was really excited to meet people I had heard so much from my family about. We went for tea and had good conversation; part of which was trying to decide what to eat for dinner. I already had okonomiyaki the first night I came so, instead we went out for shabu shabu.
This was a meal where you get a plate of raw beef, and you are seated around a copper cooking apparatus ( for lack of a better term. It has a trough around the outside of in with boiling water. You take a peice of the thinly sliced beef and boil it in the water just lightly, and then dip it in this side-sauce and eat it. MMM mmm good. We had the waitress take a photo of us as well:
After dinner we went for tea again, and then sadly parted ways for the night. Shoko was very quiet but I think I made a good first impression. 🙂 I went back to my ryokan with Midoka while Yutaka and shoko took the train home. I slept like a baby, it was a long day!
Stay tuned for Day 2 & 3
Tags: Travel
D-roe
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