After we out some warming layers on at the hotel, we headed out for dinner. We walked to a near by street called Donotonbori. It was supposed to be a happening place. The neon lights and shopping atmosphere was quite impressive. We walked the length of the street, when we turned around Bill said he noticed the women who were working the streets. I am not totally convinced they were working girls. But they did seem aggressively approaching young men. Finally after passing up and down the street a couple of times, we headed down a side street and found a place with yakisoba (fried noodles). It was a restaurant where they cooked the noodles right in front of you, the table had a large griddle built into the top of the table. Bill ordered a rice egg with cheese all fried to stick together. It had rice, one egg, cabbage, red ginger, chives and 5 kinds of cheese in the middle, after flipped 4 times, it was topped with bar-b-que sauce, mayo and mustard. Sounds really strange, but it was rather tasty, very different. The rest of us ordered fried noodles with asparagus, cabbage and mussels. We did not know there were mussels in the meal, we thought it was pork. Lucky us. But all the food tasted really good. A funny thing that happened was the fire alarm kept going off in the restaurant, but no one seemed worriedly d no one moved. We are quite certain the manager went outside and unplugged the alarm. I think it was set off by the girls who were smoking didn't seem the least bit concerned that a lit cigarette next to a smoke alarm may have been the culprit. Instead the just lit up another one.
My biggest complaint about Japan is that they allow smoking indoors at all restaurants and most attractions. Such a nasty habit.
After we devoured our food, clearing the griddle in front of us, we walked home. We took a different route. This street was completely covered, it was raining outside, so it was nice to walk completely dry.
We got back to the hotel and I think we all crashed. We started at 7:00am and arrived back at the hotel around 10:30pm---LONG DAY, but we saw a ton!
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Osaka/Kyoto Day 2 Afternoon
We had lunch at Hotel Hean No Mori Kyoto with 2 other tour busses. But the hotel did a great job of getting a bunch of people through and hot food in their bellies. My favorite was the green tea ice cream.
We had some time to wait for the next part of the tour, so we walked up the street to see some near by Shinto Shrines. I thought it was cool to see the family worship areas. It was beautiful with the old tombs an the cherry blossoms.
We are now on our way to see Heian-Jingu Shrine. It has a giant Torii gate located across from a beautiful public park. There were several people dressed in kimono. It is so neat to see them carry out ancient tradition. The temple didn't seem all too unique. It was pretty and a great experience. But the best part was the garden. Once we rounded the corner an walked in it appeared as if there was pink blossom snow on the ground. It was beautiful. I could have looked at that court yard all day. Then we stepped further into the garden and all around the pond were cherry blossom trees, in full bloom. This was what we were looking for, just breath taking. Interesting fact, Lost in Translation and Memoirs of a Geisha both had scenes filmed here.
Once it was time to leave we couldn't find Mike. He had gotten separated from the group. This tour guide was very stressed about time and making it too the next place. Mike made it, I am not sure what this lady was so worried about. We had 3 busses in front of us before we could move.
Next we went to Sanjusangen-do. An ancient temple with 1000 life sized Buddhas. It was impressive to see so many Buddhas all with different clothing and different facial expressions. We could not take photos here, so I don't have any. Just know they were bronze and gold and there were lots of them.
We all took the opportunity to go the bathroom at this place. It was less crowded at this place. Our tour guide never took bathroom breaks. Mike and Laurie took a bathroom and then a wrong turn. And whoops they were on of last to get on the bus. The tour guide came back to talk to two couples to remind them what time we had to be back on the bus to leave. She warned us the bus will leave at 5:45pm.
Next we went to Kiyomizu temple. We had to park at the bottom and walk up a crowded hill. Just getting to the parking lot took more than 30 mins. It was so crowded. As we are walking up the hill, our tour guide is practically running. We had the hardest time dodging people to follow her up the hill. We get to the top where the gate is. She sprints off to get us tickets. Then once we have a ticket we were free to to what we wanted. We quickly went through the temple. It was neat, very pretty and picturesque, but we all would have rather shopped the street below. So after about 5 mins in the temple, we headed back down.
Bill wanted shot glasses to add to his collection. Shot glasses are mystical souvenirs hardly ever found in Asia. I pride myself on locating a wide variety of shot glasses in one of the first stores. So he bought two to make up for the other times we have visited mainland and couldn't find a shot glass.
Next we weaves in and out of stores. We found this awesome mobile to hang above the baby's bed. But they wanted $300+ for it. We thought that was too expensive. So we were on the hunt for a less expensive, yet just a cold version. We found a store near the parking with separate pieces. I can put them all together to make the mobile. By the time we made our choices, we had one min to check out and make it to the bus. We were going to be late. I left Bill to check out and headed to the Bus. As I walk out the door, guess who I see running down the hill, Mike and Laurie. We get to the bus area and can't find our tour guide, I was worried they had left us. I saw her walking through a group of busses trying to leave. She showed us where to go. As I got on the bus, I was happy to see we were not the last ones to get on.
Bill and Mike came running up shortly after I had sat down. Bill had our purchases in his hand. I was so glad to see him. It then took us almost an hr to get out of the parking lot, down a narrow road and on to a major road. That last place was very, very busy.
We made it back to the New Miyako Hotel, where we had met up with the tour in the morning. We rejoined our First Lady guide and headed to catch a train. This tour guide was so funny, she was a short heavy Japanese woman, she walked with her head down and like a charging Bull. She raced up the escalator and through the crowded subway/train terminal. Our group of 5 (the Morrison's plus a Canadian) did all we could do to keep up. She waited for no one. We got to the ticket machine and she asked where our tickets were. We all stared blankly at one another. Well around 9 this morning someone had handed Laurie an envelope of subway tickets, Laurie and I were the only ones who knew about them. And we had forgotten about them. Finally it clicked, at this point I am sure the charging bull tour guide thought we were complete dummies. We find the tickets and rush some more to see a train just as it is pulling away. We had to wait 15 mins to catch the next rapid service train back to Osaka. The train ride was uneventful, we learned a lot about our Canadian counterpart, but other than that we arrived at the sub way station. The charging Bull once again headed us a breakneck speed to catch the subway. We bought our tickets and felt like we were on the home stretch. The guide never gained confidence with us, she found us on the subway to notify us when it was our stop. We graciously thanked her and exited. It was a fun and interesting day. And we all felt success because we arrived safely at our hotel in one piece all together.
We had some time to wait for the next part of the tour, so we walked up the street to see some near by Shinto Shrines. I thought it was cool to see the family worship areas. It was beautiful with the old tombs an the cherry blossoms.
We are now on our way to see Heian-Jingu Shrine. It has a giant Torii gate located across from a beautiful public park. There were several people dressed in kimono. It is so neat to see them carry out ancient tradition. The temple didn't seem all too unique. It was pretty and a great experience. But the best part was the garden. Once we rounded the corner an walked in it appeared as if there was pink blossom snow on the ground. It was beautiful. I could have looked at that court yard all day. Then we stepped further into the garden and all around the pond were cherry blossom trees, in full bloom. This was what we were looking for, just breath taking. Interesting fact, Lost in Translation and Memoirs of a Geisha both had scenes filmed here.
Once it was time to leave we couldn't find Mike. He had gotten separated from the group. This tour guide was very stressed about time and making it too the next place. Mike made it, I am not sure what this lady was so worried about. We had 3 busses in front of us before we could move.
Next we went to Sanjusangen-do. An ancient temple with 1000 life sized Buddhas. It was impressive to see so many Buddhas all with different clothing and different facial expressions. We could not take photos here, so I don't have any. Just know they were bronze and gold and there were lots of them.
We all took the opportunity to go the bathroom at this place. It was less crowded at this place. Our tour guide never took bathroom breaks. Mike and Laurie took a bathroom and then a wrong turn. And whoops they were on of last to get on the bus. The tour guide came back to talk to two couples to remind them what time we had to be back on the bus to leave. She warned us the bus will leave at 5:45pm.
Next we went to Kiyomizu temple. We had to park at the bottom and walk up a crowded hill. Just getting to the parking lot took more than 30 mins. It was so crowded. As we are walking up the hill, our tour guide is practically running. We had the hardest time dodging people to follow her up the hill. We get to the top where the gate is. She sprints off to get us tickets. Then once we have a ticket we were free to to what we wanted. We quickly went through the temple. It was neat, very pretty and picturesque, but we all would have rather shopped the street below. So after about 5 mins in the temple, we headed back down.
Bill wanted shot glasses to add to his collection. Shot glasses are mystical souvenirs hardly ever found in Asia. I pride myself on locating a wide variety of shot glasses in one of the first stores. So he bought two to make up for the other times we have visited mainland and couldn't find a shot glass.
Next we weaves in and out of stores. We found this awesome mobile to hang above the baby's bed. But they wanted $300+ for it. We thought that was too expensive. So we were on the hunt for a less expensive, yet just a cold version. We found a store near the parking with separate pieces. I can put them all together to make the mobile. By the time we made our choices, we had one min to check out and make it to the bus. We were going to be late. I left Bill to check out and headed to the Bus. As I walk out the door, guess who I see running down the hill, Mike and Laurie. We get to the bus area and can't find our tour guide, I was worried they had left us. I saw her walking through a group of busses trying to leave. She showed us where to go. As I got on the bus, I was happy to see we were not the last ones to get on.
Bill and Mike came running up shortly after I had sat down. Bill had our purchases in his hand. I was so glad to see him. It then took us almost an hr to get out of the parking lot, down a narrow road and on to a major road. That last place was very, very busy.
We made it back to the New Miyako Hotel, where we had met up with the tour in the morning. We rejoined our First Lady guide and headed to catch a train. This tour guide was so funny, she was a short heavy Japanese woman, she walked with her head down and like a charging Bull. She raced up the escalator and through the crowded subway/train terminal. Our group of 5 (the Morrison's plus a Canadian) did all we could do to keep up. She waited for no one. We got to the ticket machine and she asked where our tickets were. We all stared blankly at one another. Well around 9 this morning someone had handed Laurie an envelope of subway tickets, Laurie and I were the only ones who knew about them. And we had forgotten about them. Finally it clicked, at this point I am sure the charging bull tour guide thought we were complete dummies. We find the tickets and rush some more to see a train just as it is pulling away. We had to wait 15 mins to catch the next rapid service train back to Osaka. The train ride was uneventful, we learned a lot about our Canadian counterpart, but other than that we arrived at the sub way station. The charging Bull once again headed us a breakneck speed to catch the subway. We bought our tickets and felt like we were on the home stretch. The guide never gained confidence with us, she found us on the subway to notify us when it was our stop. We graciously thanked her and exited. It was a fun and interesting day. And we all felt success because we arrived safely at our hotel in one piece all together.
Osaka/Kyoto Day 2 Morning
This morning started early, we had to leave the hotel at 7am. We hopped on the subway and headed to a large station near by. We were meeting a tour at Hotel Grandvia at 7:30. Mike was up early so he got us all McDonald's for breakfast. We met our tour at the hotel and proceeded to the JR train station. We knew it was going to be interesting, because not everyone spoke the same language, people showed up late, and some tried to get on the wrong train. Our tour Guide was going to attempt to heard ferrel cats for 6hrs. This was going to be fun.
Once we all go on the right train, we headed to Kyoto station. There we would meet up with a bus and start our sightseeing tour.
We joined the bus tour, and headed out to the Nijo Shogun castle. It was the home of the political leader. It was built info 1603. It was quite impressive to know they built this large home without nails. One of the interesting facts about the castle, is surrounding all the rooms the floor was built to be squeaky. They call it the nightingale floor. It prevented people from sneaking up on anyone in the rooms when the sliding doors were closed. So we were a very noisy group walking through the castle.
Next we headed to the Golden Pavilion. It was built by the Shogun whose house we had just visited. I was really excited about visiting this, I had seen beautiful pictures. Just as we got off bus, it began to rain very hard. I was cold, it was raining, it was crowded and everyone had umbrellas.
It was still beautiful to see, I just wished for better weather.
Next we headed to the Imperial Palace. We were very lucky because normally the palace is closed on Saturday and Sunday. But for one week in Spring the Imperial Palace is open all week long. So we were prepared for it to be very crowded. The Japanese are on Spring Holiday, a three week vacation.
The Imperial Palace was very grand, but much more subdued than Chinese palaces. We were lucky yet another time because there were ministers from the Emperor's place performing a ceremony. It was a beautiful grounds with a gorgeous garden. We also got to see the painting inside the emperors living quarters. Usually they are close to preserve the coloring, but because the sun was not out and it was cloudy, they had the screens open. My favorite part was the beautiful Cherry Tree out by the parking lot. We got a couple of Christmas card pictures!
Now lunch time!
Once we all go on the right train, we headed to Kyoto station. There we would meet up with a bus and start our sightseeing tour.
We joined the bus tour, and headed out to the Nijo Shogun castle. It was the home of the political leader. It was built info 1603. It was quite impressive to know they built this large home without nails. One of the interesting facts about the castle, is surrounding all the rooms the floor was built to be squeaky. They call it the nightingale floor. It prevented people from sneaking up on anyone in the rooms when the sliding doors were closed. So we were a very noisy group walking through the castle.
Next we headed to the Golden Pavilion. It was built by the Shogun whose house we had just visited. I was really excited about visiting this, I had seen beautiful pictures. Just as we got off bus, it began to rain very hard. I was cold, it was raining, it was crowded and everyone had umbrellas.
It was still beautiful to see, I just wished for better weather.
Next we headed to the Imperial Palace. We were very lucky because normally the palace is closed on Saturday and Sunday. But for one week in Spring the Imperial Palace is open all week long. So we were prepared for it to be very crowded. The Japanese are on Spring Holiday, a three week vacation.
The Imperial Palace was very grand, but much more subdued than Chinese palaces. We were lucky yet another time because there were ministers from the Emperor's place performing a ceremony. It was a beautiful grounds with a gorgeous garden. We also got to see the painting inside the emperors living quarters. Usually they are close to preserve the coloring, but because the sun was not out and it was cloudy, they had the screens open. My favorite part was the beautiful Cherry Tree out by the parking lot. We got a couple of Christmas card pictures!
Now lunch time!
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