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Kevin and Joannie on tour
This morning we checked out of our hotel in Nagoya, but not before taking a picture of the emergency torch that every hotel room is meant to have in case of fire or earthquake.
We caught the Skinkansen to Kyoto and then hailed a taxi to take us to the Kyoto Kokusai Hotel. It was right opposite Nijo-jo (the equivalent of the Tower of London) and quite a plush place. It reminded Joan of 1960's Bond films.
Check- in was 1pm so we left our bags and crossed the road to Nijo-jo, which was a Shogun's castle. It had big gates and stone defence walls. There was an elaborate building where the Shogun received guests and feudal Lords. Most of the rooms had painted murals but as they are so delicate, photos were not allowed. We had to take our shoes off to enter. The floors were wooden and squeaked like birds as you walked on them. This was a deliberate design feature to prevent assasins and the like creeping up on the Shogun. The Japanese for these floors is "nightingale floors."
Behind the house was a rock garden with pool and a waterfall.
Also in the same garden is Nijo-jin'ya, an inn for feudal lords who were visiting. It has an intriguing set of security features including, trap doors, false walls, escape hatches and hidden floors and stairs. Unfortunately trips round this place have to be booked in advance and by phone, and if you're not Japanese you have to bring an interpreter with you, which seems a bit over-the-top. This is sad as it is the most exciting thing that most foreign visitors would like to see.
At the back of the castle their were moats populated by gaping mouthed koi carp and huge goldfish, as well as a brazen cormorant who was fishing there. There was alo a sign telling you what trees are in blossom in what month.
Towards the end there was a garden with a tea room and pavilion where one can take part in the tea ceremony.
Next we walked over to the Imperial Palace Gardens which also requires prebooking. On the way we saw a shrine shop. Without booking, you can walk in some of the Imperial Palace gardens and we discovered a beautiful Shinto shrine and tea room. We fed the fish in the pond, watched by a friendly heron.
Then we strolled down Teramachi-dori and came across two Shinto shrines. In the first Joan lit a candle for her recently deceased brother, John, and wrote out a request for a blessing for Wayne and Maxine, his children. There was an area where people came and filled bottles with water from a water outlet in the temple.
At the end of the street we found a restaurant that sold Japanese food, but had an English menu. (The rest of the restaurants only did menus in Japanese which we can't read) We noted its location and decided to return later. Then it was a stroll back along Oike-dori to our hotel. There there was a sign which read in English "Information" but not another word was in English!
Our cases had already been taken to our rooms, and when we got there we were pleasantly surprised at the size of the room and by the fact it had windows with a view as opposed to a view of a brick wall. Having rested our feet, we headed back out to dinner only to find the restaurant we'd chosen was closed due to a national holiday. We knew another veggie restaurant in the area was closed Mondays so we headed down to Sanjo-dori in search of dinner. As ever, we couldn't read many of the menus except the Italian restaurants so we settled for pasta and a beer.
We caught the Skinkansen to Kyoto and then hailed a taxi to take us to the Kyoto Kokusai Hotel. It was right opposite Nijo-jo (the equivalent of the Tower of London) and quite a plush place. It reminded Joan of 1960's Bond films.
Check- in was 1pm so we left our bags and crossed the road to Nijo-jo, which was a Shogun's castle. It had big gates and stone defence walls. There was an elaborate building where the Shogun received guests and feudal Lords. Most of the rooms had painted murals but as they are so delicate, photos were not allowed. We had to take our shoes off to enter. The floors were wooden and squeaked like birds as you walked on them. This was a deliberate design feature to prevent assasins and the like creeping up on the Shogun. The Japanese for these floors is "nightingale floors."
Behind the house was a rock garden with pool and a waterfall.
Also in the same garden is Nijo-jin'ya, an inn for feudal lords who were visiting. It has an intriguing set of security features including, trap doors, false walls, escape hatches and hidden floors and stairs. Unfortunately trips round this place have to be booked in advance and by phone, and if you're not Japanese you have to bring an interpreter with you, which seems a bit over-the-top. This is sad as it is the most exciting thing that most foreign visitors would like to see.
At the back of the castle their were moats populated by gaping mouthed koi carp and huge goldfish, as well as a brazen cormorant who was fishing there. There was alo a sign telling you what trees are in blossom in what month.
Towards the end there was a garden with a tea room and pavilion where one can take part in the tea ceremony.
Next we walked over to the Imperial Palace Gardens which also requires prebooking. On the way we saw a shrine shop. Without booking, you can walk in some of the Imperial Palace gardens and we discovered a beautiful Shinto shrine and tea room. We fed the fish in the pond, watched by a friendly heron.
Then we strolled down Teramachi-dori and came across two Shinto shrines. In the first Joan lit a candle for her recently deceased brother, John, and wrote out a request for a blessing for Wayne and Maxine, his children. There was an area where people came and filled bottles with water from a water outlet in the temple.
At the end of the street we found a restaurant that sold Japanese food, but had an English menu. (The rest of the restaurants only did menus in Japanese which we can't read) We noted its location and decided to return later. Then it was a stroll back along Oike-dori to our hotel. There there was a sign which read in English "Information" but not another word was in English!
Our cases had already been taken to our rooms, and when we got there we were pleasantly surprised at the size of the room and by the fact it had windows with a view as opposed to a view of a brick wall. Having rested our feet, we headed back out to dinner only to find the restaurant we'd chosen was closed due to a national holiday. We knew another veggie restaurant in the area was closed Mondays so we headed down to Sanjo-dori in search of dinner. As ever, we couldn't read many of the menus except the Italian restaurants so we settled for pasta and a beer.
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