Kyoto, Day 3

Today we got up early and went to a nearby cafe for breakfast, called Colorado Coffee. It was a cute little place and the owner/waiter was an old Japanese man who dressed up with a bow tie.  We opted for Cafe Au Lait and Russian Coffee, which was amazing!
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. 

Kyoto, Day 2

Day 2 of our adventure to mainland began with an early morning trip to the local Family Mart, to get some canned coffee. There is definitely no shortage of coffee in Japan, and you can find decent coffee just about anywhere, even the convieneince stores. Anyways, Corey and I then jumped on a bus and headed toward Arashiyama, which I was very much looking forward to after reading about a monkey park.

Monkey Park Iwatayama was all that I'd imagined, and more! We hiked up a mountain path, and soon saw a couple of Japanese Macaque Monkeys hanging from the trees. As we reached the top, we were surrounded by the monkeys, who seemed very used to people, just walking by us like we were one of them. My favorite were the babies that rode on their mother's backs, and clung to their side. We were then able to go inside of a building that was like a giant cage for us to feed the monkey's through (we were in the cage, not the monkeys). They hung onto the side, arm outstretched, waiting for more bananas. Such a cool experience!

After leaving the monkey park, we took a rickshaw ride to Bamboo Street, another famous attraction in the area. The poor girl that carried us was so small, i kept apologizing for us being heavy... But she was a good tour guide, even with limited English. 

 We saw some Geishas on the ride

It takes just 2 months for the bamboo to grow that high!

We left the bamboo park and walked to a cafe for lunch... Corey tried Yuba (Tofu Skin); the verdict was that it was tasty.. Then we walked to a nearby temple, which had a zen garden you could walk through. Our day in Arashiyama came to and end with a stop for coffee, ginger tea, and cake at a small cafe, and some shopping at souvenir shops. What a beautiful town!

On the way back toward our room, we decided to stop at  Nijo Castle, but it was closed. So, we walked  toward a market I had read about, in the Gion District. The market was so big, we kept walking and walking through vendor after vendor and probably didnt see even half of it. The vendors sold mostly fish, fruit, or sweets.

We ended our night with dinner in a cafe near our hotel... I ordered a club sandwich that had bacon, lettuce, tomato, egg, ketchup, and cucumbers.