We managed to get out of apartment on time this morning after packing up and cleaning up. It was a short walk over to the Peace Park Museum to grab the free Loop Bus which took us on a scenic tour of the City before dropping us off at the Shinkansen Terminal. We were a little early but it wasn’t long before we were on the Sakura 546 bound for Shin-Kobe. This trip is 178 km and topping out at 301kph takes a little over an hour. We then changed trains onto the Hikari 470 to Kyoto Station. This trip is just under half an hour.
One change from our trip the other day was there was snow on the ground. After arriving in Kyoto, it took some time to find the way out of the station with signs going in all directions. We eventually found an exit out but it put us on the wrong side of the station. It just meant some more walking to get to our accommodation with a 750 metre walk with our baggage. Lucky the hill over the railway lines was at the start.
Our accommodation was very Japanese with the paper doors inside and bamboo floor coverings and all beds were futons. We were even sitting on the floor but we are here to experience the Japanese culture.
There was still daylight left so it was a chance to explore around our neighbourhood to some of the shrines and temples. Bradley and Rachael were broken and stayed behind while Justin joined Jenny and I on our wander. The temples and shrines had all closed for the day but the Kyoto Tower was still open.
The Kyoto Tower is in the centre of town near the Railway Station and commands views of the city from 100 metres up. It cost Y700 to go up but the tourist binoculars are free to use. You even get a free photo of your visit. It was amazing the number of temples and shrines you could see. They seemed to be on about every third block.
It was back to the accommodation to pick up the other two kids and we headed out to find a restaurant for tea. There was a reasonable one in a back street not far away next to a kimono hire shop, Ebisu Ramen restaurant. We had followed some girls in kimonos. It seems to be a thing in Kyoto with kimono hire shops all over.
Only 8496 steps today – a quiet day.
