06/06/2013

Well, I most certainly ate too much last night, but it was quite the experience and well worth it.   I woke up and worked on the blog for more than 1.5 hours this morning, really not leaving the hotel until around 10am.    I was not hungry, but was still "forced" to eat something for breakfast at the subway station.   Oh look what I found:

So after "breakfast" I decided to go visit the Golden Palace, a famous site here in Kyoto.   I figured out that one way to get there was by city bus.   Since I hadn't done any "bus" transportation yet I found the buses outside of the station and tried to figure it out.    There definately was a bus that would take me somewhere, but it took going into the ticket office (well, asking where it was first!) and finding someone at the counter who spoke a little english.   Ended up buying a $5 'good all day' bus pass and getting a nice map with the stop circled so I'd know where to get off.   She also let me know to board at the sign titled "B3".

Found "B3" and waiting for bus "210" to show up.   Here's the "line":

Got a seat and picture of others in the bus-- note the blue sign (upper left hand corner -- hard to see in this resolution).   It was a running 'blimp' sign saying what the next stop is, both in Kanji and english.   They also had a "PA" system that cycled through "the next stop is" in Japanese and English, which made it easier on me...

Got to the right bus stop...   Got off (as did most of the kids) and followed the school kids around the block to Kinkaku-ji, the golden palace.   Here are some great shots as I walked onto property and up and around the grounds:

 These kids just thought the smoke wafting portion was a great idea...  They were having fun.

Pretty impressive palace!   Glad I went...

Decided to do something different so I wandered back to the bus stop and got on the bus to head to the Kyoto Botanical Gardens...  Had to guess at the right stop to get off on (guessed a little wrong, but close enough).   It got me wondering around the suburbs which was nice (not much of interest to see).   I used my iphone and google maps to zero in (follow the 'dot' until it gets to the Botanical Gardens -- if it goes the wrong way turn around and wonder).

The only problem was that I found something really close to the gardens that I thought was an entrance to the gardens, but it turns out it was a school!    I figured out my error without anyone saying anything to me, but it was funny that I found myself "in school".   Here's a picture:

But I'd be wrong:

So got "out of school" and went a bit further to find the actual Botanical Gardens.... Here are some amazing photos from there:

Back outside the "greenhouse" building I found some fruit trees -- nothing ripe yet!

 And a whole "Banzi" section -- I thought of Inna and took a bunch of pictures of them:

Moving on there were paths into large "forest like" trees...

Where I found a very cool 5-6 foot plus sized water wheel!

This was so cool that I had to take a video:

Then "over the bridge" -- I'm sure this either leads to Narnia or prehaps to Tolkein's Riverdell?

And more pictures:

Well, that was quite a day of touring!   The exit I found was actually closer to a subway station than the bus stops, so I hopped a subway car back to Kyoto.   It was almost 2pm and I was starting to get hungry, so I decided to have lunch at one of the many restaurants at the station.    There were a lot of choices, but an easy one was a "sushi boat" place (the sushi rolls around on a conveyer belt and you pick off the plates you want -- your bill is figured from the number and color of the plates at the end of your meal).   Here's a set of photos from lunch:

Here's the video as I sat down:

And here is what I picked out for lunch:

Yum!  That was just right for a light lunch!

I paid the bill and headed out, but was "waylaid" for dessert!  What a shock!    Needed something cool,

so got a "cone" of coffee frozen tofu, but did it as "sit down" (vs take out)

But before I left the waitress came by and offered everyone free green tea!   Oh well, while in Japan...

Made it back to my hotel room to update this blog and relax...    I am going to take it easy tonight, probably just wander back to the station next door for dinner somewhere later tonight...    Tomorrow its off via "bullet train" and ferry to Miyajima island, off the coast of Hiroshima.

So infact, around 7:00pm I decided that I really ought to go find something to eat -- not really hungry, but need something to tide me over until tomorrow.   I actually still have the "take home" rice in the little mini-fridge, but I think I want to check out the station options (as in options around/under Kyoto station).

Walked outside and the light/timing was perfect to take a picture of "Kyoto Tower Hotel"'s Tower.

Walked downstairs into the subway and along the "mall" which exists down there.  

Went into the basement level of a department store -- which is like a high-end deli with many different specialized vendors.   Here's a sample of a few of the choices--

In the end I gave into the eel side and got an unagi bento box and some dessert to take back to my hotel room.  I also stopped on the 7th floor to the vending machines to get some "Kirin" (but in my case its "Kirin Apple Juice", not Kirin beer...)

Here's my "dinner desk"

Polished it all off and ready to goto sleep -- its almost 9pm and I am quite tired still from yesterdays and todays adventures in walking around Kyoto.   Looking forward to the bullet train and ferry excursion to Miyajima island tomorrow late morning.    The challenge for me is that I really cannot arrive before 3pm on miyajima because checkin at the Ryokan isn't until 3pm and this one will come and pick me up at the ferry station, but only at/after 3pm.    So leaving before around noon from Kyoto doesn't make any sense...    I'll have to figure it all out tomorrow.