Made it onto the 8:30 AM train in Tokyo to Kyoto. The combination of free internet at the hotel, itunes, and a three hour train ride could only mean one thing: catching up on LOST. The mysteries of the island are as dramatic as ever but at least I can die semi-knowing the truth about the smoke monster. Being very over trying to take public transportation to get somewhere with our bags we quickly got in a cab and directed it to the Westin Miyako. The Westin was honestly a god-send… our own full size beds, nice bathrooms, and a nice hotel in general. I opted to pass on an Udon noodle place for lunch and take a much needed nap instead. I ended up lucking out and eating chicken fingers and French fries at the lobby café.
The truth about our day experience in Kyoto: subpar to say the least. For whatever reason (weather playing a very large role in it) we did Kyoto wrong. We decided to hit three major castles/shrines all within four hours. It started to rain as soon as we stepped off the subway by the Nijo Castle. At first the rain did not really affect us. We walked to the interior of the castle and did a tour of it (in provided slippers). It was actually really cool to see this castle built four centuries ago and have a general understanding of the Shogun and the different rooms held for different events. Each room appeared almost identical to previous one though modified in some way- instead of a large table there would be mats. For the most part the rooms were pretty bare but the paintings on the walls and some of the murals we saw were beautiful. After the interior tour we walked in the rain to the garden… once gain Kyoto would be better in the Spring when the grass is actually green and there is an actual garden to see. We decided to take the bus to Kinkaku-Ji or the Golden Pavillion which is a Shinto shrine.
Unless you’re a genius or know Japanese I would not advise taking the bus system in Japan. As humorous as this is two Michigans, a Berkeley, and a Cornell were unable to take a bus in the right direction. Instead of going north to the shrine we got on the number 101 bus heading south. In our defense English is NOT in Japan at all and that includes us asking lost of Japanese for help. Another cab ride was in order… and it was literally pouring rain by this point. We decided to further endure the rain, I mean we were in Kyoto so how could we not, and took a cab to the shrine. The cab driver must have felt bad for us because when he dropped us off he got out of the car, went to the trunk, and handed us two umbrellas. Thank you to all the Japanese who provided me with an umbrella… you would think I would have thought to bring the first donated umbrella with me.
We might have achieved the fastest record for ever being at the Kinkaku-Ji. We were in and out of the grounds in less than twenty minutes. Though it would have been nice to do more than smile for the camera at various points of interest, we were in a legit storm. Soaked we made it back to the Westin and I was able to take a very long, deserved shower, and two hour nap.
Though traveling independently is obviously a learning process, another very stupid mistake was made on behalf of Rachel and me. We decided to ask the concierge for a nicer restaurant, at this point in the trip we were willing to spend more than 700 yen for a McDonald’s combo meal. At first she suggested the new American chain that opened, TGI Friday’s (we should have taken her up on it) but we told her we could spend more than that. She showed us the menu for this really nice steak restaurant and for whatever reason we computed the price as being reasonable. Only after arriving at the restaurant, taking off our shoes, sitting down at a lowered table, and given hot hand towels did we take another glance at the menu. Apparently we miscalculated a 0 in the total yen price and were sitting at a minimum of a $100 American dollar a person dinner…. Whoops. After laughing and being unable to translate fully why we had to leave (what’s the word for too expensive in Japanese?) we tried to escape further humiliation and left as quickly as possible. Tired and hungry we just wanted to eat. After twenty more minutes of walking in and out of restaurants we ended up at a Mexican restaurant. The waiter brought us our food and told us that the cheese and bread was free- language barrier issues, we soon learned that we ate Brooke’s cheese appetizer. Still hungry we gave up, went back to the Westin, and ate a great meal (pasta, salad, sandwiches, and ice cream for dessert). We went to sleep that night and woke up to take the 8:15 shuttle to the train station.
Poor, poor Kyoto. It was unfortunate that it did not turn out to live up to the hype we heard about. I would definitely want to go back to Kyoto and do it for real. I would return in Spring and spend more than a day there. I think that Kyoto will be the joke of our SAS experience. It’s comical that it just did not work out for us. The accumulation of weather problems, food problems, and transportation problems, not to mention sleep deprivation, didn’t cut it. I apologize, Kyoto- I’m sure you really are an amazing city.
The truth about our day experience in Kyoto: subpar to say the least. For whatever reason (weather playing a very large role in it) we did Kyoto wrong. We decided to hit three major castles/shrines all within four hours. It started to rain as soon as we stepped off the subway by the Nijo Castle. At first the rain did not really affect us. We walked to the interior of the castle and did a tour of it (in provided slippers). It was actually really cool to see this castle built four centuries ago and have a general understanding of the Shogun and the different rooms held for different events. Each room appeared almost identical to previous one though modified in some way- instead of a large table there would be mats. For the most part the rooms were pretty bare but the paintings on the walls and some of the murals we saw were beautiful. After the interior tour we walked in the rain to the garden… once gain Kyoto would be better in the Spring when the grass is actually green and there is an actual garden to see. We decided to take the bus to Kinkaku-Ji or the Golden Pavillion which is a Shinto shrine.
Unless you’re a genius or know Japanese I would not advise taking the bus system in Japan. As humorous as this is two Michigans, a Berkeley, and a Cornell were unable to take a bus in the right direction. Instead of going north to the shrine we got on the number 101 bus heading south. In our defense English is NOT in Japan at all and that includes us asking lost of Japanese for help. Another cab ride was in order… and it was literally pouring rain by this point. We decided to further endure the rain, I mean we were in Kyoto so how could we not, and took a cab to the shrine. The cab driver must have felt bad for us because when he dropped us off he got out of the car, went to the trunk, and handed us two umbrellas. Thank you to all the Japanese who provided me with an umbrella… you would think I would have thought to bring the first donated umbrella with me.
We might have achieved the fastest record for ever being at the Kinkaku-Ji. We were in and out of the grounds in less than twenty minutes. Though it would have been nice to do more than smile for the camera at various points of interest, we were in a legit storm. Soaked we made it back to the Westin and I was able to take a very long, deserved shower, and two hour nap.
Though traveling independently is obviously a learning process, another very stupid mistake was made on behalf of Rachel and me. We decided to ask the concierge for a nicer restaurant, at this point in the trip we were willing to spend more than 700 yen for a McDonald’s combo meal. At first she suggested the new American chain that opened, TGI Friday’s (we should have taken her up on it) but we told her we could spend more than that. She showed us the menu for this really nice steak restaurant and for whatever reason we computed the price as being reasonable. Only after arriving at the restaurant, taking off our shoes, sitting down at a lowered table, and given hot hand towels did we take another glance at the menu. Apparently we miscalculated a 0 in the total yen price and were sitting at a minimum of a $100 American dollar a person dinner…. Whoops. After laughing and being unable to translate fully why we had to leave (what’s the word for too expensive in Japanese?) we tried to escape further humiliation and left as quickly as possible. Tired and hungry we just wanted to eat. After twenty more minutes of walking in and out of restaurants we ended up at a Mexican restaurant. The waiter brought us our food and told us that the cheese and bread was free- language barrier issues, we soon learned that we ate Brooke’s cheese appetizer. Still hungry we gave up, went back to the Westin, and ate a great meal (pasta, salad, sandwiches, and ice cream for dessert). We went to sleep that night and woke up to take the 8:15 shuttle to the train station.
Poor, poor Kyoto. It was unfortunate that it did not turn out to live up to the hype we heard about. I would definitely want to go back to Kyoto and do it for real. I would return in Spring and spend more than a day there. I think that Kyoto will be the joke of our SAS experience. It’s comical that it just did not work out for us. The accumulation of weather problems, food problems, and transportation problems, not to mention sleep deprivation, didn’t cut it. I apologize, Kyoto- I’m sure you really are an amazing city.
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