On to Kyoto

 

Monday 26 June

Day 7

With our travel routine down pat and our recon completed yesterday, we were pretty confident that we had our travels licked. The only spanner was Paul. During the night he came down with severe stomach cramps and was up for a fair amount of time. I was thinking we would be delaying our next lot of travel, but by morning he was much better and we were able to proceed as planned. The alarm went at 7am, we were fed, dressed, packed and in the lobby checking out by 7.30am. 

There was limited foot traffic, so pushing our cases to the station occurred unhindered. We found the elevators to the concourse floor and again to our desired platform and then we squeezed onto the train with the morning commuters. While crowded, it was pretty easy and by 815am, we were at Tokyo and making our way through the station to the Shinkansen. 

We made ourselves at home in the waiting room, reading and surfing the net. I was bored watching and waiting for our train to be listed. It finally appeared at 9.05am. We waited until 9.20, then made our move, firstly to the delicatessen for two bento boxes and then to the elevator to reach platform 14. Our hikarie train was there waiting, so we boarded, found our seats and got ready for the 2h30m journey to Kyoto, 450km away. 

The travel was very smooth. Scenery floated by. You had enough time to take it in and then it was gone. Shinkansen trains coming in the opposite direction, suddenly appeared and disappeared. The noise of air popping was the first sign the train was beside you. 

We watched large solar farms appear at different times, a stark difference to our trip to Hakone. There were ponds for farming aquatic animals, large open waterways, boating facilities. Sports grounds covered in netting; baseball and golf mostly. We watched houses appear, some of them on the sides of forested hills, others on plains next to rice fields. The scene was picturesque.

By midday we were pulling into Kyoto station, glad we had navigated well enough so far. The hard bit was getting out of the station and onto a subway line. Unfortunately the JR pass didn’t cover it, so we forked out for a day pass, as we couldn’t determine which line we needed. 

We had no idea where the elevators were, so at times we had to carry the bags down long stair cases, but we took it in our stride and before long, we were back outside on the street and navigating on foot to the hotel in the rain. 

It was about 600m away, before we found the hotel entrance. A couple of hours early for our check in, but unlike the previous hotel, we were able to get straight to our room on the 5th floor, overlooking the school that sits on the opposite side of the road. The kids were at lunch and busily running around their sandy courtyard, thoroughly enjoying themselves. We proceeded to sort through our things and take stock. We ate the second bento box for lunch, which filled the spot and then we were ready to get out and explore around us. 

The imperial palace wasn’t too far way, so we headed in that direction, passing the school kids as they made their way home. We crossed an main road and then entered the Kyoto Gyoen, the large public park in which the palace is placed. A large wooden gate formed the entrance. We wandered around the grounds, taking in the flora and the architecture. Unfortunately, the palace isn’t accessible, so we could only admire from the walk way. 

We exited the park and made our way towards the Kamo River. From here we wandered along the pathway checking out the shallow but wide waterway. We looked for fish, but saw none. There were ducks and other water birds about though and then Paul spotted a snake at the base of a concrete bridge.

The rain had been on and off since we began our walk, but it was starting to come down heavier. We searched for a brewery, finding Spring Valley Brewery and so began to make our way through the old streets until we finally found it. Being after 5 and slightly soggy, we decided to enjoy dinner and a drink, before making our way back to the Oakwood hotel. The meal, tempura fish and chips and wagyu beef and vege, was just what was needed. 

Full, we made way back to the hotel for 630, ready for a quiet night in.