Kyoto

After a great trip to Nikko, we decided to get back on the bullet train to Kyoto. The bullet train is a great way to get around Japan. It's fast (up to 185 mph!) and they're always on time. We rarely had to wait more than a few minutes for one.


Shinkansen or Bullet Train
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After we passed through Tokyo, we went by Mt. Fuji. I had to ask the guy next to us if that was Mt. Fuji, and he smiled (since its the only mountain that high, it's hard to miss). But, he was friendly and recommended I go to the space between the cars to take a picture since the window was bigger (and, most likely, so I wouldn't be leaning over him to get the shot).


Mt Fuji from Shinkansen
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We arrived in Kyoto and began to look for our hostel. We took the recommendation of our Aunt Merikay and Cousin Claudia (and cousin little Bruce) to stay at the Tour Club hostel. We had a map of where it's located, but still had a bit of trouble since many of the streets throughout Japan aren't named. We were tired from our long day, so it was a little frustrating, but finally found it and were glad to be there.

It was a great place for a really cheap price. The first night we stayed in the dorm room which consisted of 3 bunk beds, and cost about $20 per person. They had huge down comforters and comfortable mattresses. It was a really good deal.

It was Ann, two women just out of college (not still IN college as Ann asked and was given the evil eye). Not sure how they felt having a guy in their room. They didn't seem real friendly, but nice enough to share a room with for one night.

I always have this fear of talking in my sleep or snoring really loud when I need to stay in a place with strangers, and Ann informed me that I did some nice loud talking in the middle of the night. So, I'm sure the other women were glad to have us move to the private room the next night.

As with all Japanese accommodations, you leave your shoes at the entrance and wear slippers that they provide. Unfortunately, the slippers are "one-size-fits-all" and since I have size 12 feet, I had a little difficulty and was afraid of breaking the slippers.


Perfect Fit
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We met an eccentric couple at the hostel who were gathering many many many souvenirs of brochures, and small trinkets for their friends. They were taking up the entire common area in their kimonos and were a little odd. They said they decided not to go to Himeji Castle (which was one of the best sites of our trip) because they heard it was a little too "overdone" and "touristy". We like places off the beaten track too, but I think you've got to go to the tourist places that interest you or you'd miss a lot. After all, they're not touristy because they're boring!

So we settled in to our comfortable beds and had a good night's sleep. The next morning we got up early to visit Nijo-jo, which was Tokugawa's fortress while he was in Kyoto.

We walked from our hostel for a while, then realized the map represented a bigger area than we thought (a mistake that was made often on our trip). We figured out which direction Nijo-jo was in, so we waited for the next bus to come and hope its going where we want it to go.

We came across a map waiting for a bus. "Oh good, it's a map", I said. Here's a picture of the map which was very helpful in teaching us that even though it's a map, it may not help us get where we're going.


You Are Here
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As we were waiting for the bus, we asked a local how much the bus costs. She told us and made some hand gestures, and we figured out it was 175 yen. She told with body language and examples that "We could get a card for the entire day for 500 yen, which is a much better deal. In the grand scheme of things, 500 yen goes a long way. You can travel the magical world of Kyoto for the price of a cup of coffee. What other marvelous joys may we encounter in this enchanted land we call Japan?" (All with body language and examples, it was amazing).

Lucky for us, the bus took us directly to Nijo-jo, and we bought a 500 yen card from the bus driver (good call, Ann). The fortress is in the middle of the busy city. The fortress is surrounded by a moat, which I took a picture of here. This would be a much better picture without this joker and his friend from Marquette getting in the shot. Oh well, I can always photoshop them out.


Moat (complete with jokers from Wisconsin).
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We entered the fortress and decided to pay a little bit more for the English audio guide which helped a great deal. There's a main outer wall, then the inside area where the main entrance is located. Here's a shot of the main structure of the fortress. There's some really intricate gold lacquered decorations above the door and at the gates.


Gate to Nijo-Jo
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Nijo-Jo
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Once inside, you hear a curious chirping sound that is coming from the wood planks that make up the walkway. This is called a "Nightingale Floor", and we heard about this from our Aunt Merikay and Cousin Claudia. This was an ingenious invention that alerted the guards to an intruder no matter how stealthy he was. I was expecting it to be squeaky, but not the beautiful sound that really sounds like a bird chirping. This is done by adding angled nails at certain places in the floorboards to create this sound. We have this in our house, and we haven't had an intruder yet.

After taking the tour, I was totally in Samurai mode. It was easy to lose yourself in the time period and imagine what it was like to live back then. This is one of the things I was really excited to come to Japan to see, and it was great.

When walking around the grounds, we were approached by a group of Japanese school girls that had a school project where we were the subject. This is the first of several times we helped school kids with their project. We had as much fun as they did. They asked us questions in English such as "Where are you from?", "What is your Name", etc. Then took a picture of all of us. I asked for one with them. They always do the haiwa (peace) sign before a photo.


Haiwa (peace)
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At the end of touring the castle, Ann and I were both starving so we decided to find a restaurant. My Lonely Planet book showed a noodle shop near the train station. We haven't tried one of these "Ramen" shops (better than the Sam's Club variety by far). When we arrived there was a line out the door with hungry patrons looking in the windows to see how long until it was their turn. We joined line and after a short wait we were in.

After looking in confusion at the lunch menu which was entirely in Japanese characters, the waiter saved us by telling us there's only 3 choices in the restaurant: small, medium or large! I looked up chicken in the guide book and he said "Only pork". We each got a medium bowl of noodles, green onions and sliced pork. It was the perfect lunch for hungry tourists (and cheap too). We were the only tourists there, most were school kids and business men grabbing a quick lunch during the weekday.


Waiter at noodle shop (see, haiwa again!)
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This is a Medium?
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Next we visit the Gion district of Kyoto, Ann and my favorite part of the city...