Day 4, Tuesday, May 15th: Kyoto Walking Tour
A beautiful start to our Tuesday in Kyoto. Very sunny and temperatures will hit 30 degrees later in the day. I am on my Macbook around 05:15 as I have awoken and no way going back to sleep. I need to complete the blogs for yesterday with Lana's help and then post. Lana awakens and helps and we enjoy one French pastry each for breakfast before heading out. Our plan is to stay within the core of Kyoto by walking. We check Google Maps for destinations and figure out our walking routes. We will find out by early afternoon that we were overly ambitious in terms of the exertion required for this walking tour. **Lana here--one of us, who shall remain nameless, was the overly ambitious one--the other of us being slightly more practical, suggested taking the subway at one point but was flatly refused!!!
Our expected walking destinations:
Our expected walking destinations:
- Nishi Hongwanji
- Kyoto Station architecture
- view of Kyoto Tower
- watch the Aoi Matsuri Festival parade
- lunch
- Gion neighbourhood
- Philosopher's Walk
- Ginkaku-Ji (Silver Pavilion)
Buddhist Temple at Nishi Hongwanji.
Sign describing Founder's Hall (in English & Japanese)
Dragon relief in one of the temples.
Lana observing a Buddhist ritual of sitting peacefully on the tatami mat. The plastic bag has her shoes. Randy is meditating on a chair in the rear of the temple. Of course the peaceful atmosphere only lasted until a couple brought in their toddler who decided to either scream or exercise her lungs without stopping. Otherwise, it is very serene, austere, calming and meditative. There is some incense burning. The high ceilings have wooden lattice work. Most signs are in Japanese and English. There is a free English booklet.
To enter any of the buildings you must take off your shoes. They provide a plastic bag to carry your shoes. You return the plastic bag to a recycling container.
Samurai attacking dear Lana, but she is oblivious. Maybe too much contemplation in the Buddhist temple earlier?
Damn Samurai, where ever I go they are attacking me.
Very cool sink in the Temple bathroom. Nozzle on the left provides the hand soap and the nozzle on the right the water. Love it! No mess on the counter.
Kyoto Station public washroom has these dials beside the toilet. English and Japanese directions. Japanese toilets are high tech!
We have these instructions in public and business toilets in Vancouver as well. Hard to believe that some people believe they can't simply sit on the toilet seat?
We walk to Kyoto Station, but before we arrive Lana spots a Starbucks and finds a Starbucks card she wants/needs and will add to her collection. There are Starbucks every where we go in Kyoto, except the outlying areas. There must be a coffee culture in Japan?
Kyoto Station incredible architecture.
You can take escalators from ground floor for a number of stories to reach the Kyoto Station Sky Garden where you are almost level with the famed Kyoto Tower. Great views up here! Plus, they have employees that clean the escalator glass dividers by wiping with a rag as they go down the escalator.
More stunning architecture at Kyoto Station.
Yup, Kyoto Station is really cool!
One of the famous landmarks of Kyoto: Kyoto Tower. We did not get up to the observation deck. We saw some panoramic views of parts of Kyoto on both hikes yesterday. No real need to see views of this metropolis.
This shows how high you ride the escalators at Kyoto Station as Lana took this picture from the one corner of the Sky Garden.
Yes, this is a 7-Eleven convenience store that has its own Torii gates!
Lana loves these small stamps. In the olden days people would stamp their names in Japanese symbols as their legal signature.
When I was doing some research on Kyoto many months ago, I came across the Kyoto Aoi Matsuri Festival and it just happened it was occurring today! The festival's main attraction is a large parade in Kyoto in which up to 500 people dress in the aristocratic style of the Heian Period (794-1185) and walk from the Imperial Palace to the Kamo Shrines. The parade began at 10:30 and was concluded by around 11:20.
We made it to the parade area near the Imperial Palace by 11:00 so got to see the last twenty minutes. We had a pretty good vantage point, but this required us running across the street and in front of some of the parade to get to our spot. Damn foreigners! ;-)
It was more of a trek from Kyoto Station than I thought. We put in a good pace and we were still late. Lana was a real trooper as it was very hot and I walk fast. Despite all the walking yesterday she kept up and enjoyed the parade. **I swear this man is trying to kill me whenever we go on vacation!! :)
OK, we have a lot of pictures of the parade, but it is so interesting to see an ancient culture.
Yes, they do have a Cats Cafe in Kyoto. We did not attend as neither of us are cat lovers, although we do like cats. Vancouver has a cat cafe.
After the parade we walk across the street to a Dokomo (Telecomm) store. I asked for a Japanese SIM card, but they only provide SIM cards on a two year term. I try to purchase a SIM card for my unlocked cell phone where we travel then I can access data and use my text/phone. I will try again in Tokyo.
We start walking south and somewhat east as our eventual destination is the ancient neighbourhood of Gion. Gion is known for geisha! We were here about 15 years ago and loved this old neighbourhood and saw a real geisha enter a restaurant after getting out of a taxi. Quite a thrill.
Anyway, we are both hungry now and were talking about food and we stumbled by a restaurant advertising Tonkatsu. Basically, tonkatsu is a Japanese version of German schnitzel! Breaded pork cutlets. Very yummy. The name of the restaurant is Tonkatsu Yamanaka and a newspaper testimonial/clipping described it as the best tonkatsu in Kyoto!
We are greeted by the owner Takahiko Yamanaka! The reason we know that is his picture on the wall from a testimonial. Not sure how old he is, but he has quite the personality. He wears a white smock and shuffles his feet. He is not moving very fast, but always has a smile. His prices are higher than average, but good quality meat and his tonkatsu is very good. To enter the restaurant you have to slide the door open. Very authentic Japanese interior with lots of wood. The miso soup had earthy flavours and was a deep brown colour. The decor was pig inspired. That makes sense...
Entrance to Tonkatsu Yamanaka. Very old school Japanese.
English lunch menu.
Randy's Kirin lager beer. Good refreshing drink after some long walks.
Lana's lunch of tonkatsu (sirloin cut), rice, pickles and miso soup.
Randy's order of tonkatsu special tenderloin cut (more expensive), picked, miso soup and rice.
After lunch we walk south and then east to get to Gion neighbourhood. We cross the river at Shijo Dori and then we are into Gion. We walk south along the river. Many people enjoying the sunny and warm weather by lying in the grass near the river. Lots of trees and public access to the river. So many fellow tourists. Plus, many young women wearing traditional kimonos and in some cases their boyfriends/husbands wearing traditional Japanese clothing. In addition, for whatever reasons many many Chinese tourists. How do we know they are Chinese? When they talk it is in Mandarin. There was a wedding couple having their pics taken and they were Chinese!
We are not inspired this time by our visit to Gion. It is not as authentic as previously with lots of updated/gentrified buildings. So many more tourists. The atmosphere is different. We walked to Kennin-Ji Temple Grounds and every building had an admission fee. We found a seat in the shade, but a security guard rushed over and told us to stand up (oops--no sitting allowed anywhere on the temple grounds!). Lana did find a UV protected umbrella to shield herself from the sun as she had forgotten her travel umbrella today. **"Lana says rookie mistake #2!!"
Sometimes there was a gentle breeze and that was much appreciated. We got bored with Gion and decided to head back to the apartment so Lana could nap and rest. It really is hot today and with the extreme amount of walking already (15.5 kms) we get onto the subway. We are back to our room by 14:30 and Lana fast asleep muttering something about how much her legs ache.
Authentic Gion building.
Another authentic Gion building.
We believe this is an authentic Maiko! She would be an apprentice Geisha. We suspect she is not a "made up/pretend" Geisha because she has her hair done exquisitely. And the red cloth in her hair is authentic for this style of Geisha hairdo. The made-up Geisha's who rent their outfits don't get their hair properly made up as it's very expensive to have this done. They actually use wax in the hair to keep it this way. We don't stare at her as we go by as this would be considered very rude--but I manage to sneak in a photo from the back.
Some of the side streets in Gion are really this narrow.
Believe it or not, this is a subway car seat. Super cushiony and beautiful. This is not first class as it is the subway and no dedicated ticketing. Wow! Check out how clean the floor is.
This is a red inverted triangle in our Airbnb window. We have seen these in other windows around Kyoto. Lana googles it and discovers these are access points for firefighters in case of emergency. Lana correctly guessed this was the meaning--although Randy was skeptical!
By 16:00 Lana has woken up from her nap and we will return to our original plans of visiting Ginkaku-Ji (Silver Pavilion) and the Philosopher's Path. For certain, this is a subway ride with the need to change subway lines. You need to get to Keage Station and then walk from there. The information indicates to find Nanzen-Ji temple and walk north from there on the Philosopher's Path and you reach Ginkaku-Ji. This will mean more walking, but we are up for it. It is not simple to find Philosopher's Path.
Welcome signage for Philosopher's Path and the end destination of the Silver Pavilion. As you can see the distance is 1.8 km. Nope, we discover that it is at least 3.2 kms from that sign.
Map of Ginkaku-Ji area. Regrettably, once we reach the final destination the grounds are closed since 17:00. We arrived at 17:30. You cannot see inside the temple grounds as there are walls in this area. We try walking down a street to find a different vantage point, but no luck. To assuage our feelings, Lana buys a 450Yen hand-made delicious popsicle.
Japanese Maple Tree along Philosopher's Path.
Much of Philosopher's Path is along a gentle flowing stream nestled among the trees. Some shade from the sun and seats at various points. Small restaurants at some points for hungry travellers.
This is Lana using her UV protected umbrella and following the path. Due to the heat is seems Lana's hands have swelled up--she says they look like baseball mitts! They do look a little puffy and red. There are huge fish in this small stream. I am guessing the larger fish are over 15 pounds!
We were keen on eating Yakitori tonight and Lana has spotted an advertising sign on the street last night pretty close to our apartment. When we get off the subway we head straight for the spot. It is open and located downstairs in a basement area. The restaurant is Romanya Shijo Karasuma. When you enter a server rushes over and instructs you to take off your shoes. It is a traditional Japanese seating plan with sitting on mats rather than chairs and your legs dangle below as the table space extends below the floor level. They have an English menu so that really helps.
We love Yakitori Japanese cuisine as it is basically grilled meat on a skewer. We don't see any fellow tourists in the restaurant, but a lot of "salary men" and younger people. People are having a good time (laughing) and ordering lots of beer and hard drinks. Many smokers around us which is really hard to get used to. The three people beside us are getting pretty drunk, but all fun. Our servers are not very competent and forgot our order of drinks and our order of chicken wings takes about 50 minutes to arrive. Well you don't tip in Japan anyway. The bill came to 4,780Yen although we needed to dispute the first bill as they included two drinks for Lana and she only ordered one. We had to remind them twice to bring her drink. We received our salad before we received our drinks!
Overall the food was excellent. The meats were tender, juicy and tasty! It was a good fun atmosphere. It confirmed our love of Yakitori cuisine. We left the restaurant around 20:15 and headed back to our apartment for our last night in Kyoto. Still warm as we amble back to our apartment.
This is a button at your table to push to get the attention of a server. When you push the button your table number (15 in our case) shows up on a wall alert and a server comes over.
Yakitori skewers of (from right to left) Chorizo, Butabara (pork belly in black pepper) and Gyu Harami (beef outside skirt steak). They are all so tasty. Dipping the chorizo in mayonnaise was a new taste experience.
Round two--more of the above except for additional Shiitake mushroom.
Yakitori skewers of Oyamomo (chicken thighs). Juicy and tender! A couple of different dipping sauces were provided.
These were the number of Yakitori skewers (11) we consumed for dinner tonight.
The weather is so beautiful late in the evening. Still plenty of people walking the sidewalks and cars, bicycles (sidewalks) and motorcycles navigating the roads. We will miss Kyoto, but tomorrow offers more adventure in and around Mount Fuji!
Lana's walking app for today shows a new walking record for her of 36,104 steps and 26 kms of walking. Plus, 23 floors of ascent. A pretty awesome day of walking! Although I think Lana is still grumbling about it a little :)
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