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Published: April 8th 2018
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Today was a transfer day for Tokyo to Kyoto for Dennis and I, and to Osaka for John and Michael. We had scouted out all the information we could about the trains, so we left our wonderful hotel in Tokyo and went to the Tokyo Central Station, using the Yeasiu Entrance. We knew we had to find the 505 Hikari train to Osaka and Kyoto. We looked at the boards until they came up in English and found that we needed Track 16. We knew from our tickets that we were in Car 10 Seats 2c and 2d. We found Track 16 and John and I stood on the #10 sign indicating that's where Car 10 would stop and load. While John stood with the suitcases, Michael and I got some bento boxes for the trip. i went back to keep John company and Michael sat with Dad on the platform. Michael started up a conversation with a Japanese man and his wife who were from Honolulu, Hawaii. They had a nice conversation until the bullet train pulled in about 10 minutes early. About 10 cleaners (men and women) boarded the cars 9 and 10 and cleaned both cars in 10
minutes. they got off and then the doors opened about 3 minutes later, right on time. We got in the car and you put your luggage up on overhead racks that are quite deep. We then settled in for a nice train ride.
As we raced through the countryside, Michael went over with me the finer points of Instagram. We published some of my photos from the last two days. I'm really getting the hang of it. Dennis and I shared my Bento box which was dim sum. They were really good. Suddenly, beautiful views of Mount Fuji came into view. We were so excited. Mount Fuji always wears a wreath of clouds around its summit, but today there were on a dew clouds on one side. I guess they blew away in the strong winds of the last two days. When we were in Japan 4 years ago we went to a special area where the views of Mount Fuji were supposed to be the best, but we didn't see anything like we saw today.
The trip to Kyoto took about 2.5 hours. Michael helped us get my suitcase off the train ad we said goodbye. Within
a minute or two they were off to Osaka. We found our way into the Kyoto train station which was mobbed. Much more crowded than Tokyo. We found our way to the cab stand and got a taxi to our hotel, the Westin Miyako. This is very different from the Imperial Palace in Tokyo in many respects. One thing that becomes apparent immediately is that the majority of the guests are either American or Canadian. At the Imperial Palace, the majority of the guests were oriental. Also there are not as many staff here as there were at the Imperial Palace. Our room was not ready and all of the restaurants were fully booked for lunch so we went to the coffee shop and had what they call "a set" which is a three tiered set of plates with sandwiches on the bottom, scones on the middle and pastries on the top along with a beverage. It was really good. We then walked around the lobby and the second floor for a while and then around 2 pm our room was ready. We have a beautiful corner room with a balcony that overlooks the entire valley of Kyoto. Tonight, Dennis
and I are going to a Tepanaki restaurant here in the hotel. It is his birthday (as well as Buddha's), so we will celebrate.
I didn't take as many pictures today as usual since the majority of the day was spent pushing my suitcase through train stations while carrying my 25 pound backpack on my back. It's character building to travel..
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