Kanazawa "At Home at Ryokan Service"
Summer Holiday in Japan 2009 – Day 5: Second time in Kyoto
October 15th, 2009
On this day we wake up late in the morning and one of us, tired from the labors of the previous days, decided to walk
alone in Osaka alone and not go through the streets of Kyoto by bicycle.
For this new appointment in Kyoto we decided a more “in touch” approach with the city by hiring three bicycles (perhaps I havent’ said you that we were four people for this trip).
Out of the Kyoto Station (main exit to the north of the station), proceeding to the right (where, after a few meters there’s the post office of Kyoto) after about 150 meters there is a shop that rents bicycles. The thing that surprised us is that the seller immediately after our request to hire bikes has informed us that there was a 60% chance of rain … we was surprised that against his own interest he advised us to not rent bicycles, and however we have decided to risk a “rain wash”.
At that time there was the Gion Matsuri, a big parade of floats and people dressed in the traditional way running through Kyoto … for our misfortune, that day the parade was already over, so we headed to our first destination: the Nijo Castle.
This castle, did not look like that of Himeji (you can see it from the photos), and was prohibited to photograph the interior; anyway is worth to visit it in a walking tour for his “twittering” floor (to defend themselves, the floor of the building perimeter when trampled produces a sound similar to that of a twittering of birds).
Proceeding on the streets of Kyoto (that seems those of Los Angeles because of the climbs and descents very long), for several kilometers (instead of the bike, the only other possible method for avoid waste of time, was the bus. Certainly not on foot), finally we reached the next destination: the Kinkakuji (said the Gold Pavillion).
This is a pagoda completely covered with sheets of gold outside it. Inserted into a lovely garden with a lake and small waterfalls it gives the feeling of being in an enchanted world. I think it is the most particular attractive of Kyoto.
In the afternoon, around 5:00pm it started raining and we brought back the bicycles … the prediction was then correct but we had seen what we wanted.
In Kyoto, there are many other temples to see, however, there is the risk of getting tired of these things, unless one is particularly interested to this type of art.
In the evening, returned to Osaka, we visited the “Umeda Sky Building“, a skyscraper of 40 floors very modern in which I personally ate a plate of pasta with mushrooms: really good and very expensive.
This was the last night in osaka, then we did a walking tour in the city and arranged our luggages for the next day, when we transfered to Kanazawa .
