Monday, July 7, 2014

Day One: Northern Kyoto

Our first morning in Kyoto, we headed out to a nearby vegetarian breakfast buffet. We took the long line outside as a good sign. Once inside, the only recognizable breakfast food was a bowl of frosted flakes. We concluded that it was probably for children, considering how the adults at the restaurant were eating salad, rice, and soup.
Breakfast buffet

Once fed we went to a bicycle rental store on the next block and rented bicycles for the day. Martin figured out directions and somehow got us to Nijo Castle, an impressive black and white structure built in 1603 to house the shogunate. We parked our bicycles in a bicycle parking lot (aka a roped off section of the parking lot watched over by a friendly elderly Japanese man) and purchased an audio tour for the castle.

The castle itself is remarkable primarily for the paintings that cover its thin, sliding walls. We weren't able to take pictures inside but the following link gives an idea what we saw http://micro.rohm.com/en/rohm-saijiki/nijoujou/4_coseup/closeup_01.html. Also worth mentioning are the castle's "Nightingale Floors"--floors designed to creak underfoot in order to alert guards to the presence of intruders. Finally, we enjoyed the meticulously designed gardens despite the light rain threatening our phones and cameras.

One notable feature of the garden was a Phoenix Tree that survived the atomic bomb at the conclusion of the Second World War.
Phoenix Tree

I am too tall for Nijo

After Nijo we biked up to Ginkakuji, better known as the Golden Pavilion. Unlike Nijo, which was relatively quiet, Ginkakuji was crawling with tourists like ourselves, all straining to get the best picture of the gold-plated pavilion (preferably one with the Pavilion and its reflection, and without other tourists in the frame). We took our photographs then continued along the path until we reached a teahouse, where we decided to stop for a much-needed rest with some matcha (powdered green tea) and a small sweet.

We got back on our bicycles and headed across the city in the direction of Kinkakuji, the Silver Pavilion. The bike ride was Martin's favorite part of the day, because it gave us a chance to navigate Kyoto's narrow residential streets, away from the bustle of central tourist areas. He navigated us to Kinkakuji (which, it must be said, is not silver at all). We almost decided to skip the temple but decided to enter anyways in the twenty minutes left before it closed. Once inside, we were grateful that we had taken the time to explore. The gardens were almost empty and covered in a thick, bright green moss. The Zen sand sculptures were also interesting, but we still don't quite understand their significance.

From Kinkakuji we went down a tree-covered cobblestone road called the Philosopher's Path, pausing only to observe the locals playing with stray cats along the side of the path. At the end of the path we happened upon Nanzenji Temple, where we asked a man to take our picture and wound up talking with him about where he was from (Korea) and about his job (designing gardens).

After Nanzenji, Martin somehow navigated us back to the bicycle shop and we walked back to the apartment. For dinner we went out to Tsujiki Sushi Restaurant, where we sleepily ate incredible sushi.   Then we sleepily ate horrible dessert at Tits Cafe, a cafe actually called Tits Cafe.

**More pictures once back in the US! We didn't take many on our phones on this day.

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