Our plan next brought us to the Imperial Park and Kyoto Imperial Palace. The park was nice to walk through, and had some cool trees that Corey insisted on climbing.....
The Imperial Palace's entrance.... They were closed to visitors today, though!
This man was dancing by himself in the park... he was waltzing with an invisible partner lol
Our next stop was Nijo Castle. The highlight of this place was that you could actually go inside of one of the buildings, although no photographs were allowed. Inside, the floors are called "Nightingale floors," because they squeaked when you walked across them, used as a sort of alarm system for intruders. Corey tried to sneak across with out squeaking, but it was hard to do!
The rest of the grounds of the castle were very beautiful and it was a scenic walk around the property.
The next part of the day was my favorite part; we met up with Julie and Dave at the train station! They had flown into Tokyo a few days before, and took the Shinkansen Train (bullet train) into Kyoto.
We then all went to their Ryokan, called Japanese Inn Yoshimizu. The Inn is in the middle of a park, so we walked through some really cool Shinto Shrines and beautiful gardens. It was a very homey and laid back place, and the inn keepers were so friendly and helpful.
In Julie and Dave's room
Outside of Yoshimizu
walking through a shrine on the way to the Inn
The day ended with a walk into the Gion District, which is known for shopping, restaurants, and Geishas. We chose a sushi place to eat at, and shopped for a bit, chuckling at the Japanese-English translation on shirts.
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