Day Seven- Kyoto

This was the first day of the rest of our lives. Actually no, it was just the first day that our JR Pass was valid. At £207 for 7 days it seems pretty extortionate but it is well worth the money. It would have been worth it just to go to Kyoto. There is no photographic evidence, so you may not believe me, but we saw Mr Fuji on the train. Unfortunately we were sitting on the wrong side of the carriage, plus the ticket inspector was going round while we went past so we didn't get chance to get a proper look, but I am still glad I could see that it was real. 

We arrived in Kyoto about 10.30 (we left Tokyo at some ungodly hour) and found our hostel. I think we actually woke the receptionist up. Oops. Kyoto is BEAUTIFUL. Maybe my favourite place that we went. It is much more traditional than Tokyo and looks exactly how I imagined it.

 There are about a zillion temples. Obviously we couldn't go to all of them but we went to as many as possible.

 We only had a two days there, so thought it best to crack on with the souvenir shops as soon as possible. This lovely Geisha was outside one near Kinkakuji. Margaret Thatcher much?

 Now, it is quite surprising that I have not yet talked about Japanese toilets. There are two types of Japanese toilet. The first is used like this:

 I was very glad of this sign because until I saw it, I had no idea which way round you were supposed to go! They are difficult to use as there is nothing to hold on to. I prefer the other Japanese toilets, but I will come to those in a later post.

 Oops, how did that get there? Anyway, Kinkakuji is better known to Westerners as the Golden Pavillion. It is pretty famous and verrrrrry gold.

 It is one of the most famous sights in Japan. Another famous place in Kyoto is Nijo castle.

 It was brilliant. I am not that interested in Asian history but it was really good. The castle is equipped with a Nightingale Floor. It is an ancient security system to protect the Shogun etc from Ninjas. Wow, that sounds so cool.

 It is incredibly clever, when you step on it, it sings which alerts people to your presence. Boyo said I could be a spy if I could cross the room without it making a noise. I did not succeed. On the plus side, neither did he.

 To all non-native speakers of English, it is for some strange reason a very "cool language". Whether it makes sense or not. Luckily Roman script is used on most signs, so we did not have too many problems finding our way. Engrish has got to be one of the most amusing things in the whole world.

 I love that sign so much. I only wish I had seen the poster that Dan san told us about, which was a politician advertising for his "Election Party"...
In the evening we went to Gion on a Geisha hunt. We passed some lovely lanterns. Verrrry Kyoto.

 We had Yaki Soba in a restaurant which was big enough for about four people in total. Then for pudding we decided to follow one of Mr Boring's recommendations and went for a matcha (green tea) ice cream. It looks delicious:

 DO NOT BE FOOLED, dear reader. It is gross. So disgusting, in fact that I couldn't eat more than three bites. And that has got to be a first!
Now, make the most of this picture. Go on, really appreciate it.

"But whyyyyy?!" I hear you cry. All will be revealed in my next post...