Week 50: Tokyo to Kyoto!

Sunday, we came down from Sendai to Tokyo, and I wanted to get train tickets out of Tokyo on Thursday, but it turns out that Thursday was a holiday so EVERY SINGLE ticket was already sold.  So I got one for the last train out on Wednesday. 10:30 am.

Anyhow, we were going to rest Sunday evening, but since we lost a day, we shuffled out and checked out a nearby park that's on the "what should you see in Tokyo" list.  Ueno!  

It was pretty neat, though, of course, hot and humid.  Yay.  

There was a festival going on

so many people

That we promptly avoided.

we had enough of festivals and crowds from the previous week.  

Instead we checked out the historical sights

like this temple

a VERY traditional Japanese cafe

a..grave? temple? thing?

a row of soul lanterns

 We found an odd sign that pointed to a building and it said "Tokyo Bunka Kaikan." Well, we didn't know what a Bunka Kaikan was, so we looked it up on the map.

that doesn't help.

So we translated the Kanji.  I don't have to tell you that it said the same thing, right?  Turns out it was a cultural hall thing.

and a...totem pole?  Ok.

Dad thought it was funny how I kept doing this.

And then we stopped in a Korean grill place for dinner

that's right! Korean! In Japan!

I'll be honest, we were all getting a little tired of Japanese food. It's not my favorite. (GASP!)

The next day we went on a hop on/hop off bus ride

because it really IS a good way to tour.

my only problem was the tour kinda went

"There's the train station"

"There's Tokyo Tower"

"And THERE are all the SHOPPING AREAS.."

I didn't get pictures of those, but I swear, there were about 7 stops and at least 4 of them were based on being a shopping area.

We kept riding though and eventually made it to Tokyo sky tree.  Not as pretty as Tokyo tower, but much taller.

what's with that road?

Ok, this is actually pretty funny, because it's a mirror thing to get a good shot of the sky tree

modern art.

But for SOME reason they have the road reaching up part of the sky tree...I don't get it.

Anyhow, we did go up it.

there are two floors, 375 and 450 meters

there were wind chimes making it sound pretty.

And there was a "glass floor" section.

it was SO THICK.

So that was fun. Then we went to Asakusa, to see Senso-ji shrine.

you know the one.

It's a pretty big compound, there's lots of fun stuff to see.

And then we went in, because it was hot and humid and we were tired.

Tuesday, we went to the temple.  Which one?

the LDS one!

And did a session. :) It was really nice. Especially since it meant I finally went through a session in the Tokyo temple when I was NOT ready to die from exhaustion. :P

After that, we hoofed it to the Imperial palace.  We wanted to see the actual palace, but apparently we needed to make a reservation.  6 months ago.

So we saw the gardens!

very English.

What? are we standing in the stream? would we DO that? (you betcha)

we got to walk around barefoot!  Grass was prickly.

Lemme in! I wanna see!

After that last picture, we noticed the security guards' car and we nonchalantly walked away.

We left about the time they were closing it down, found a place to eat and called it a day.

Wednesday, we slept in a bit and took the train to Osaka

long trip so far.

Once there, we went back to my place.  We juggled luggage and then went to the bath house. (again, no pictures)  As soon as I mentioned the Korean scrub MONTHS ago, mom wanted one, so we all went and hung out and got scrubbed.  It was NICE.

That evening the parents spent time away from me.  I found a love hotel near me and they spent the night there.  You should ask them about it sometime, apparently it was an "experience".  Not quite as user friendly as the ones in Korea apparently.

Thursday, we took the train to Kyoto.

Because apparently we're gluttons for punishment.

HOT AND HUMID.  Do I need to say it more?  We determined that we would tour in the morning, and come afternoon, (say 1 ish) we'd go in until the sun set closer to 5.  Can anyone guess how well that went?

Right, so Thursday, after we made it to Kyoto, we went to the bamboo forest.

oops, missed our stop.

Right. We WENT to the BAMBOO forest.

This is the most famous bamboo trail in Japan.

We went Thursday afternoon, because I figured, hey, shade!  Didn't help that the darn things trap heat.  Or at least don't let a breeze go through. :P

still love a good Bamboo forest.

We were going to take the tourist train back, but because of reasons, (like it being really crowded, and I was worried about something) we headed back the normal way instead. Which involved way more walking than we wanted. :P

After resting off the heat of the day, we were like "we're tired. is there any close food?" And it turns out there was!

A Thai place was LITERALLY on the next block. About half a Kilometer away.

and it was SO GOOD.

Best Thai food I've ever had.  Went back on Saturday too.

Friday, we got out early (ish) and went to Kiyomizudera (or Kiyomuzu temple)

this temple is on two extreme levels.

Lovely! (couldn't help the shade)

Daddy being strong. (suckers were HEAVY)

That evening we went to a ninja cafe!  Not like the one in Tokyo. This one was more little-kid friendly, because they had a show!

and themed food!

and audience participation!

We were such a small crowd, they had us all come up and take a picture after. :)

The show was absolutely hilarious!  There was some awesome demonstration of acrobatic skills, and some awful acting and some REALLY campy stuff, but it was just so funny. :)

Glad we went.

Saturday, we had a guided tour!

by Samurai Joe!

This man is over 80!  And he was really surprised booked a tour, because it was Obon week, and it was almost impossible for foreigners to get rooms in Kyoto, because all the Japanese are on vacation. It was a fun tour though! It seemed to mostly focus on the local stores, but we got to see some really nice culture things because of it!

this WHOLE THING is made of sugar.

Like traditional candies!   

Traditional Geta! (I can't imagine wearing those)

and a Katana demonstration!  mom still has the video, you'll have to see her blog for it.

He told us the difference between Shinto and Buddhism (for the Japanese at least)

Kyoto palace. He had lots of facts about this.

Shopping center

lunch!

And the best part!  He was also our translator so when Dad asked...

he found us a massage parlor.

We felt like living after that.  So we went and rested off the heat of the day, decided to indulge and have the Thai place again, and on Sunday said goodbye to Kyoto!

Sunday was pretty straight forward. We went to Church, then we got some nice members to drive us to my place for dinner.  Then we gathered ALL their stuff up, grabbed a taxi to the station and found our place in Osaka.

On the way, Dad said "This has been a lot of fun. I think I've seen enough Temples and Castles now.  What do you have planned for Monday and Tuesday?"

"Nara temple on Monday and Himeji castle on Tuesday."

"...Great! Sounds fun!"

Love my dad! :)