Storming the Castles

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Today we found ourselves thrust into the heart of a Kyoto Winter. As soon as we walked outside, we were chilled to our core. I could feel my extremities begin to slowly freeze. Our love for Kyoto, however was not dampened.

After a small debate over the pronunciation of castle, it was off to see the mighty castles of Kyoto. We took a bus to Nijo Castle. The castle was home to the Shoguns of Japan during the Edo period. In (extremely) layman' terms, the Shogun was a position given out by the emperor to basically make all military commands. Given world affairs at the time- an important guy. The castle and gardens were enormous and beautiful. Every wall, door handle and architrave was spectacularly detailed- and with reason. Great power is not earned through ulterior motives, but by interior design. For example, when the Shogun's visitors arrive the must first wait in a humongous room filled with tiger murals (not that they knew what tigers looked like). The intimidation does not stop there, when you are presented to the Shogun, he is seated 50m away from you, on a pedestal, surrounded by a mural of looming pine trees. The emperor on the other hand faces south (always) and is greeted by a mural of a calming lakes.

After a quick bite to eat, it was off to the imperial palace- or the Emperor's pad. This place made Nijo palace look like a cottage. The imperial palace walls guard 11 hectares of gardens and castle. We intended to see as much as we could. To think Emperors would have had palaquins to take them from building to buiding. Now, where could I find one of those...?

We managed to get ourselves into a free guided to tour of Sento Imperial Palace. This palace was where retired Emperors and later, the Empress Dowager lived. This palace was smaller and was full of gardens and tea houses. This is my kind of palace. Perfect retirement.

All castled-out, we head back to our neck of the woods for dinner. We found a cosy YakitorI Style restaurant. The chefs cooked everything in front of us. We had fried battered eggplant, onion, fish and spring onion, oyster, green peppers, pork, chicken and eggs on a skewers. We then dipped them in delicious sauces. Hot sake seems to compliment everything. The chef could speak pretty good English and was in for a chat. Everyone around the bar was super friendly. Great end to a great day. Oh Kyoto you have won our hearts.

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