Our last morning in Kyoto and we had arranged to see a traditional Japanese show, with what we had thought would be dancing Geisha. Located close by, but on it’s last day for the season, I had booked online through a booking agent, and there was some confusion about whether the tickets were actually purchased on our behalf or not.…
Category: An Epic Adventure
May 23: Himeji Castle and the Golden Pavilion
Another day trip out of Kyoto about 100 miles to Himeji to see the Castle there. Known as the White Heron Castle (as an opposite to the black castle in Masumoto), it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and well worth the hour on the bullet train to get there. It is called the heron castle because its graceful outlines and…
May 22: Nara
Another day away from the city center, just about an hour outside of Kyoto. Formerly Heijokyo, it was established at the end of the Silk Road and was Japan’s first permanent capitol, from 710-784. This time marked the beginning of a strong, centralized state, a catalyst for the growth of a national identity. Buddhism, an import from China and Korea,…
Sunday, May 21: Arashiyama
Forecast to be another hot day, and with the promise of some sort of festival, we thought we’d explore one of the suburbs of Kyoto, Arashiyama. It’s popular with tourists, and it being a Sunday, it was a bit crowded, but we set off with Liz and Jonathan on the train to check it out. It was a beautiful natural…
Saturday, May 20: More Kyoto Temples and Shrines
Of all the many shrines and temples in Kyoto, and there seem to be hundreds, we have selected a few that are of particular interest, or which seem to offer something unique visually or historically. So I set my sights on two such places today. Luckily the route to the first was along the river. It was a very hot…
May 19: Kyoto/My Birthday Part 2
The real benefit of having one’s birthday halfway across the globe is the ability to recognize it for 37 hours! When I woke this morning in whatever version of the heavenly bed the Ritz Carlton offers up I had many birthday wishes from time zones across America and Europe. Was quite nice to have a second day of nice messages…
May 18: Kyoto
They say it’s my birthday. Although with the time difference between here and there I’m tempted to either delay or milk it for 36 hours! It was delightful to sleep in a western bed and not have a schedule for the day. We found a boulangerie around the corner and had a wonderful American breakfast. Just what I wanted as…
May 17: Kii-Katsuura to Kyoto
Once again the dormitory/hostel type accommodation meant a very early wake up time — someone using the hair dryer across the hall in the dual gender bathroom served as our alarm clock around 5AM. But we had an early train to take anyway, and were anxious to move on from the southern countryside to a more urban and sophisticated spot.…
May 16: Kumano Koda — Koguchi to Nachi Taisha
The last section of the Kumano Koda is known as the most difficult, rated a 5/5 for the trekking. It is a climb and descent over the pass and is mostly in the forested mountains. The first section is called the dogiri-zaka, which can be directly translated as “body breaking slope” — it climbs almost 800 meters over about 5…
May 15: Kumano Koda — Ukegawa to Koguchi, 13km
Today’s hike was shorter, and while graded a 4 (out of 5), the guide books suggested that it was fairly benign, at least compared to the other 3 trekking days! I decided to go ahead the hike the day; Karen chose to take a boat down the river to Shingu (as the wealthy did the pilgrimage back in the day,…