Family Trip 2003 to Japan
DAY 6: Kyoto Tour

Hie Shrine

Today we slept in a little for we were leaving Tokyo. We took a short walk in the morning to the Hie Shrine which was right next to our hotel. As it turned out, this week was the Shrine's festival. It had a lot of decorations out. A neat respite in the middle of crazy Tokyo!

Hikari Shinkansen to Kyoto

We checked out of the hotel nearing 10:00am. We dragged our suitcases onto the subway to Tokyo station. We obtained seat reservations for the Green Car on a Hikari Shinkansen to Kyoto. We arrived at Kyoto at 1:30pm

Seiki Ryoken, our hotel

We had some trouble finding the street that our hotel was on, but we did find it. Our hotel was the Seiki Station Ryoken on the south side of the JR station. This is a very small, modern Ryoken, or Japanese Inn. We were in a 5 tatami mat room with our own bathroom. The room was very small. The bathroom was tight, the sink faucet also doubling as the controls for the shower.  The inn keepers were VERY nice! They lent us umbrellas, and offered free internet access.

Nijo Castle

After dropping off our stuff, we headed to the Kyoto subway, Kamasuma line. The Kujo station was only a short one block walk away. We transferred to the Tozai subway to go to Nijojo-mae station, for Nijo Castle. We spent over one hour walking through this castle, with a palace and gardens to be seen. The Palace had beautiful tapestries, but no photographs allowed.

Yasaka Shrine

After the castle we went back to the subway to go to Higashiyama. We walked through a small market to the Yasaka Shrine. This was a very beautiful shrine. 

Gion District

From here it was a short walk to Gion. Gion is famous for Geisha. Geisha women are often misunderstood by westerners. They are not prostitutes. They are entertainers at parties and offer companionship not unlike some bartenders. Geisha do stick out with their makeup, hair style and their beautiful kimonos. We did get a quick glance of one in a taxi. But is was getting late. We walked to pick up the Hankyu subway , then transferred to the Kamasuma Subway where we went to the beautiful Kyoto Station.

Kyoto Station

Kyoto Station is a very modern and open station. The atrium is just a site to see. In the evening there were neon lights glowing. There is also a 10th floor observation area. We went to a wonderful Tonkatsu (fried pork or chicken cutlets) restaurant for dinner on the 9th floor. It was a perfect meal.

By 9:30 we were back in our small room. We set out the futons and went to sleep. Our feet let us know that we had walked 8 miles today!

Continue to Day 7

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Page last edited on: 03/25/17