We head back to Tokyo this morning. We have done so much in the past three days, it feels more like 6 days worth.Trains and buses and walking and walking and walking.
Yesterday was the tour of Kyoto Imperial Palace – a beautiful garden there. Then we went off in search of a restaurant that Cory found on kyotofoodie.com. We consulted three maps to find it, tucked away in a teeny little side street (and these streets really are tiny), then were directed up a steep, dark stair (the restaurant is in a 450 year old house) where we sat down and were thankfully presented with an English menu and green tea. We had lovely soba noodle soup for lunch, then were off again.
We went to the Golden Pavillion which was beautiful. We had a lovely little guide who went around with us, a student who is studying English and International Relations. After that we went to Arayshiyama where we walked through Tenryu-ji Zen Garden and saw the Bamboo Groves which almost look unreal.
We had taken the bus to Arayshiyama, but discovered that the train station was near by so took the train back to Kyoto Station – a much easier trip. We went to Asahi restaurant for the third night in a row. It is a brew pub, pretty much right across the street from our hotel. Good food, excellent beer, and pretty much as far as our feet are willing to go at the end of the day.
I am sad to be leaving Kyoto, I have enjoyed it so much, but I am rather looking forward to actually sitting for three hours on the train. Not sure yet what we will do in Tokyo, was looking through our Tokyo book last night and not much was jumping out at me. That could have been partly due to exhaustion though. I gave in and went to bed at nine. All the lights were still on in the room, but I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
Almost time to check out of our hotel. Good-bye Kyoto, we will miss you!