March 13th

The Train and Kyoto

We awoke just after sunrise, when the sky was still pink and glowing. We rolled off the futon, and then lay in the soaking bath. It was so terribly civilized. I do love Japan.

Breakfast was waiting, so we had to get out and put on our yukatas and head for our private dining room. The food looked absolutely beautiful, too good to eat. However, we did manage to eat it. They had gone out of their way to try to avoid fish for Brian, not easy when everything seems to have fish stock in it.

I wanted to soak again, but our driver arrived to take us to the station, so off went the yukatas, on went the jeans and T shirts and we bade farewell to our hosts and thanked them for the most amazing experience.

Ever since I traveled on the bullet train in Japan in 1962, I wanted to experience the new and improved, much faster Shinkansen trains. The maximum operating speed is 200 mph, and they can go up to 375 mph, but not with passengers on board I imagine. Our train was due to leave Hakone station for Kyoto at 10:08, and sure enough, at 10:08 off we went. Brian was a little concerned because the train before us, also going to Kyoto, left at 10:04, and was doing the calculations in his head about necessary stopping distances at that speed should the train in front of us suddenly become incapacitated. All this was too technical for me and I happily looked out the window at magnificent Mt Fuji in the distance, thinking that my life is indeed very blessed.

The 2-hour journey went by way too fast, and the next thing we knew we were in Kyoto. We are staying at the Hotel Granvia Kyoto, which is actually in the station so it was a short walk from the train to the hotel reception desk. We checked in, and were pleased to see that our 4 suitcases and 1 carry on bag had arrived already. It was a good idea to send them on ahead of us, and not to have to struggle with all that luggage on the train. It simply would not have worked.

It was too early to go to our room, and we were feeling quite puckish by then, so we took a taxi to a vegetarian restaurant on the river, where we knew Brian would not get poisoned by hidden piscine delights. The restaurant was called Veg Out, and the food was ultra yummy – but they only had soymilk for my tea. I would not make a good vegetarian; I do need cows milk for a good cuppa.

Then it was time to be tourists again, and we headed to the Shogun’s home, Nijojo Castle. The castle was built in 1603 as the Kyoto residence of Tokugawa Leyasu, the first Shogun of the Edo Period. Brian thought it was more like a palace than a castle, but he has seriously been influenced by castles like Dover Castle where you have decent sized walls and ramparts. This castle had a moat, and a little wall, and a gate, so I was OK calling it a castle, even if it lacked ramparts and turrets, not to mention crenulations.

The interior was fascinating. The floors squeaked as you walked around, sounding like nightingales apparently. That would warn you that someone was approaching. I loved the layout. Room sizes could be changed by moving beautiful gold leaf panels. I suppose it is in a way like a modern conference center ballroom, but it seemed to work so much better here.

Our next stop was at the Golden Pavilion, or Kinkakuji Temple which is it’s real name. The temple was the retirement villa of the Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, and according to his will it became a Zen Buddhist temple on his death in 1408. It has burned down a couple of times, but has been rebuilt and now is probably one of the most magnificent buildings I have ever seen. I loved it in 1962, and I love it even more now. The weather was perfect, sun and blue skies, so the lighting when we got there made it shine, looking almost like some kind of a mirage. It was simply too beautiful to be real. We stayed there for ages just staring at it. What an incredible sight.

We love to visit foreign markets, so after our sublime experience, we jumped into a taxi and headed for the Nishiki market. The market is 5 blocks long, and has stores and stalls of all descriptions. It was loud and smelly, and I was totally in my element.

Looking at all of those different foodstuffs made us hungry, so we headed back to the station to find somewhere to eat. There is a large department stall, a shopping mall, and a multitude of restaurants at the station. As usual we searched for a restaurant that had an English menu, and we found a great little place called the Grill Capital – we simply had to go there as I love the Capital Grille back home. It turned out to be a good choice. Yet again we were the only foreigners in the restaurant. We found food on the menu that we recognized, and being assured that it was fish free we settled down to a lovely relaxing meal.

After dinner it was time to explore the station. Although it is 20 years old it has the feel of somewhere that has just been built. Going up and down the many escalators, and walking across the sky bridges we felt we were in a science fiction movie. One of the best parts was a giant staircase where they had an ever-changing light display. We could have spent the whole evening exploring the station, but Brian had work to do, so reluctantly we walked back to our room. From the room we had a great view of the illuminated Kyoto tower, and Kyoto main street. Even late at night it was bustling with activity. Kyoto is a busy place.