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Published: January 14th 2011
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Kyoto Imperial Palace tour? Yes please! The Imperial Palace was something that I had wanted to see while I was in Kyoto but I had heard mixed reactions about the tour. Some said it was a waste of time, others had liked it. So I decided to get my own opinion and I actually liked it. The tour was free, so even if I didn't it's not like I wasted any money. The tour took about one hour all up and took us around the buildings of the old palace. Kyoto used to be the capital of Japan and so the Emperor used to reside there as well, but the palace isn't used as a residence anymore. You don't get to go inside any of the buildings but I knew that beforehand so maybe that's why some people didn't like it, cos they didn't know that. Anyway, the group consisted of about 30 or 40 people, once again, all foreigners, this because the tour was in English! So that was the second time in two days that I had been surrounded by so many "damn tourists"!!! At the beginning the tour guide told us that one part of the palace was
being renovated and so we couldn't see that, at first I was a bit disappointed but then she said that instead they had made a special path through a part of the palace that tourists usually didn't get to go to so I cheered up!
During the tour we saw all the old buildings and she explained what they were used for and we even saw the Emperor's bedroom, as the doors were open, and the gardens were also really pretty. During this tour I met an American guy called Joseph, he was there by himself too and asked me to take a photo of him with his camera and so we got to talking. He was nice and after the tour we decided to get some food together. He was only in Kyoto for the day and so was asking where he should go, I pointed out a few places and mentioned that I was going to some of them so he asked if he could come with me. At first I was a little hesitant, I sort of just wanted to walk around by myself but I realised that it would be rude of me to say
Kinkakuji
Also known as the Golden Pavillion that especially if we just kept meeting up at all the same places anyway. He was actually a very nice guy and it was good to have some company the whole day actually.
We went to Nijo Castle, Kinkakuji, and Kiyomizudera (all of which I had been to before but they were my favourites so I went again, and he hadn't seen them anyway). And it was different because the seasons were different, so the scenery had changed too. I also took him to Ginkakuji but let him go inside himself as I wanted to look in the shops along the street. I won't go into descriptions of the places because most of you heard about them when I went last time.
One of the better parts was when we were leaving one of the temples, Kiyomizudera, we spotted some Geisha (who I now suspect were probably just for display purposes), and of course everyone was asking to have photos with them, so we joined the queue! OK, OK, I am a tourist! But that was an opportunity I didn't want to pass! They are a very famous symbol of Kyoto and Japan!
If I hadn't already
booked my hotel for tonight I would have stayed in Kyoto another night, but I had and I didn't want to pay a fee! So I decided to spend the day there and come to Nagoya (where I am now) this evening instead of coming in the morning. I went to a shrine callled Tofukuji this morning, well it was actually nearer to lunchtime after I had checked out and made my way to the station and had an early lunch. And it was a huge place, the main reason for going was the gardens that I had heard were really beautiful and they were! An old bridge went over a valley of maple trees and a stream trickling underneath that. There was an area that was sort of a mini forest of maple trees, some bright green, others starting to turn yellowy-orange, and the ground underneath them was covered in this bright green moss that at times crawled up the trunks of the twisting trees, it was gorgeous, almost like an enchanted forest. I love Kyoto, and there are still so many places that I want to see!
This afternoon, I decided to treat myself and caught the
Shinkansen to Nagoya! I wanted to ride one at least once while I was here, and the trip between Kyoto and Nagoya isn't that far so it didn't cost that much, well it was twice the price of the normal train, but that would have meant transfers too! I meant in comparison to other Shinkansen trips! Did I explain that Shinkansen is the Japanese fast bullet train? So it was good to experience. I rode the Nozomi which is the SUPER express, the very, very, very fast one!
Anyway, so here I am in Nagoya, my last stopover before Tokyo!
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