7 June

Today, after setting the room alarm to wake me at 6, I woke at 6 and went straight back to sleep, waking again at just before 7. So preparing quickly, I headed down for breakfast and had to join a long queue. Memo to self: even if I wake up a little earlier than I want while away, don’t drop back to sleep if I have to be at breakfast for a certain time to avoid queues.
On the way down I met two Australian girls. There must be more Australians here then in Australia at the moment. When we got down to the ground floor (note: Japanese, like Americans, call the ground floor the first floor – I suppose that’s because they had floors on the first level of buildings, instead of just the ground) we all went our separate ways. I had breakfast but had forgotten my Vegemite – I won’t tomorrow! The variety for breakfast at the buffets is amazing – I don’t just mean the wide choices, I mean the type of choices: chips (real ones, not skinny French Fries), eggs in two or three different ways, many vegetables, many cereals, different meats, different soups; the list goes on and on. I had enough, but not quite what I wanted or needed – the Vegemite really does make the difference.
I went back up to my room, finished, got everything together and then went down. At the tour desk I got another badge for today and a ticket for the bus, but no more paperwork – thank goodness! After a few minutes, at about 8:40, we went out to the bus, got on and found it nearly full. As it transpired, the bus fills up from other hotels and ours (New Miyako Hotel) is last. During the morning tour (there were three different groups – the morning-only tour, the full day tour and the morning Kyoto and afternoon Nara tour), it was revealed that the bus was predominantly Australians – they said because of the dollar, but of course when I booked, paid and got currency, the dollar was not as strong as it is now. So I met two Australian couples – one here and one on their way to France – and a mother and daughter, here for just over a week.
We headed off and went firstly to the Nijo Castle.
Although it is not what we have conditioned ourselves to think of as a castle, especially as it is made of wood, it certainly deserves the term because of the grandeur of the surroundings and the buildings themselves. Initially it looks as though it will be small, but by the time we entered and were shown around (memo to self: check guided itinerary items and make sure socks have no holes in them if visiting a place where shoes must be removed) on squeaky – deliberately – floors in the public sections and quiet floors in the public sections, all the rooms and seen how they were organised and used, it looks huge. Unfortunately I couldn’t take any photos inside, as it is listed as a cultural monument, but I did get a good explanation from the guide.
Then we were all back on the bus and off to Kitano Tenmangu. Here there were many students setting themselves up to get good luck for their exams. As another guide said, and this one repeated, Japanese are pragmatic with religion and go to Shinto Temples when things are bad and Buddhist Temples when things are good. Of course they also now celebrate Christmas, but no-one celebrates Easter like Australians, who consume more Easter eggs than any other country on earth (not per head, in total amount).
Then we were back on and off to Kinkakuji Temple, which has peaceful lakes and gardens, and a Golden Pavilion with a Buddha inside. We had a good look and guided commentary around that, then were back on the bus and off to the Kyoto Handicraft Centre. Here we could look around, participate, have lunch and catch a shuttle back to the hotel.
I chose to leave the group there and walked back along one side of the Imperial Palace. As in Tokyo, the grounds are open in many areas as gardens for the public and so there were many walking and riding inside. After a bite to eat, I looked for a museum which took my fancy but just couldn’t find it. I decided to walk along the river instead, and on my way there, saw many very small shops which were the ground floor of residences. The variety was wide, including retail, catering and service. Walking along the river proved to be an interesting experience, as the river is quite wide but extremely shallow, common to many areas where the waterways are fed from mountains and especially spring thaws. There were fishermen in the river (but they didn’t seem too successful), birds in the river (at least one was successful, as I captured a picture of it eating a fish), many people cycling and walking beside the river, large numbers sitting beside it, a lot having lunch and a few just there for the experience, such as the girls in geisha costumes.
Under many of the bridges there were piles of belongings, which looked to be the preserve of some homeless, though I didn’t actually see anyone there.
I eventually came up from the river edge and walked through the Kyoto city centre and down to the Kyoto Tower. After initial difficulty, I found the entrance to the tower and went up, and for once, I could actually see. Kyoto appears to be locked within mountains and buildings creep up as far as it is economically (and most likely, safe) possible to build.
After that, with now sore feet from about ten kilometres walking on uneven ground at the river and then city pavements, I came back, processed photos, wrote this up and let my feet recover. I’m unsure as to whether I’ll go out again. I have all day tomorrow to look around.